Saturday, April 18, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Ancient Grief Tanka by Gerry Jacobson

English Original

rain falling
on crumbling tombstones
in the woods
I feel the weight
of ancient grief 

Eucalypt, 9, 2010

Gerry Jacobson


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

雨點
飄落在樹林中
搖搖欲墜的墓碑
我感覺到
古老悲傷的沉重

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

雨点
飘落在树林中
摇摇欲坠的墓碑
我感觉到
古老悲伤的沉重


Bio Sketch

Gerry Jacobson lives in Canberra , Australia . A retired geologist, he grows vegetables, looks after grandchildren, and writes tanka. He is composing a kind of autobiography in "tanka prose."

1 comment:

  1. In the upper verse, Gerry successfully creates the sad atmosphere of a graveyard through well-chosen imagistic phrases ("rain falling,' "crumbling tombstones," and " "in the woods"), while in the lower verse, he adds emotional weight and historical depth (the "weight" of "ancient grief") to the poem.

    And on a second reading, emotionally speaking, L1 gains symbolic significance.

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