One of those men
in his forties, worn out,
Mr. Marxist's sleeping face
looks like
a blade of grass.
a long rainy season: haiku & tanka
Motoko Michiura
trans. by Leza Lowitz
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在那些四十多歲
疲累的人之中，
馬克思主義先生的睡臉
看起來像
一棵小草。
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在那些四十多岁
疲累的人之中，
马克思主义先生的睡脸
看起来像
一棵小草。
Bio Sketch
Motoko Michiura was born in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, in 1947. She has published four books of poetry, and is well known for her poetry concerning her experiences as a student activist at Waseda University in the 1960s and 1970s. She received the 25th Modern Tanka Society Prize for the 1980 publication of Helpless Lyricism. For more information about her work, see a long rainy season, pp. 99 - 118.
This little narrative tanka says a lot -- political beliefs and hard work -- about Japanese sociopolitically conscious workers with a few words. And the sharp contrasts in the concluding simile is poignant.
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