Monday, 21 October 2013

lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
Yodo River (Yodogawa)

    When I live beneath
the footwearying mountains,
    what can the white clouds
be telling me to do when
there's never a time they clear?

—17 October 2013

(Original by Ki no Tsurayuki.) The Yodo is the name of the lower stretches of the Uji River, which the Kamiya of the previous eventually flows into. The mountains suggest a religious retreat and the overcast a heavy heart, but I am not at all certain I correctly understand the second half (particularly line 4, which became parts of ll.3-4 in translation).


ashibiki no
yamabe ni oreba
shirakumo no
ika ni seyo to ka
haruru toki naki


---L.

About

Warning: contents contain line-breaks.

As language practice, I like to translate poetry. My current project is Chinese, with practice focused on Tang Dynasty poetry. Previously this was classical Japanese, most recently working through the Kokinshu anthology (archived here). Suggestions, corrections, and questions always welcome.

There's also original pomes in the journal archives.

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