Tuesday, December 20, 2016

One Man's Maple Moon: River Tanka by Keitha Keyes

English Original

sometimes
wishing the time away     
sometimes
wanting it to stand still
… a river flows to the sea

Cattails, January 2015

Keitha Keyes


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

有時
希望時間消失不見
有時
希望它靜止不動
... 一條小河流入大海

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

有时
希望时间消失不见
有时
希望它静止不动
... 一条小河流入大海


Bio Sketch

Keitha Keyes lives in Sydney but her heart is still in the Australian bush where she grew up. She mostly writes tanka and related genres, revelling in the inspiration, friendship and generosity of these writing communities. Her work appears in many print and online journals and anthologies.

1 comment:

  1. The two parts of the poem form a thematically and emotionally antithetical relationship, and the simple yet evocative image in L5 adds philosophical depth to the poem.

    Keitha's tanka reminds me of the following remark on time and river:

    Night and day the river flows. If time is the mind of space, the River is the soul of the desert.

    -- Edward Abbey , "A Voice in the Wilderness"

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