from my hospital window
I see across a bare field
in the morning rain
a yellow silk umbrella
on its solitary way
First Place, 2003 Tanka Society of America International Tanka Contest
Sanford Goldstein
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
下雨的早晨
從醫院窗口
我看到橫過光禿田野
的一把黃色綢傘
落寞地被風吹走
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
下雨的早晨
从医院窗口
我看到横过光秃田野
的一把黄色绸伞
落寞地被风吹走
Bio Sketch
Sanford Goldstein has been publishing tanka for more than fifty years. He was born in 1925 and is now 90 years old. Long ago, he wrote haiku, but decided to focus on tanka. His latest books, three in the last two years, have each said this would be his last.
Although this tanka weighs in at 33 syllables, it feels natural and unpadded. The visual details help set the tone and mood, and the evocative image portrayed in the lower verse takes on new significance, emotional and symbolic.
ReplyDeleteThe immediacy and intensity of one particular moment in the speaker's hospital life is well captured in this visually and emotionally evocative tanka.