a deeper blue
this ocean, sky, and me
all these stones
worn smooth by waves
rain, and a thousand tears
Red Lights, 9:1, 2013
Susan Constable
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
更深的藍
這個海洋，天空和我
所有這些石頭
被海浪，雨，和眼淚
磨得光滑
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
更深的蓝
这个海洋，天空和我
所有这些石头
被海浪，雨，和眼泪
磨得光滑
Bio Sketch
Susan Constable’s tanka appear in numerous journals and anthologies, including Take Five. She placed third in the 2010 Tanka Society of America Contest and her tanka collection, The Eternity of Waves,
is one of the winning entries in the eChapbook Awards for 2012. She is
currently the tanka editor for the international on-line journal, A Hundred Gourds. Susan lives with her husband on Canada’s beautiful west coast.
(Editor's Note: This is the last tanka accepted for the 2013 translation project)
Susan's subtle use of thematic repetition in L5 adds emotional weight to the poem, and on a second reading, L1 works effectively on two levels, literal and symbolic.
ReplyDeleteThis heartfelt tanka is emotionally well-framed by its opening (a deeper blue) and closing (rain, and a thousand tears) lines.