Wednesday, November 8, 2017

One Man's Maple Moon: Silence and the Night Tanka by Lesley Anne Swanson

English Original

rushrush
out the door and off you go
a quick hug
before the slow embrace
of silence and the night

Third Place, 2016 Haiku Poets of Northern California International Competiton

 Lesley Anne Swanson


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

衝到門口
你匆忙地出門
在沉默和夜晚
的緩慢擁抱之前
你很快地緊抱我一下子

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

衝到门口
你匆忙地出门
在沉默和夜晚
的缓慢拥抱之前
你很快地紧抱我一下子


Bio Sketch

Lesley Anne Swanson has lived in Northern California, the Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest, but now calls Pennsylvania home.  Always a wordsmith, she discovered tanka in 2011 and has been enthralled ever since.

1 comment:

  1. The contrast between the two parts of the poem ("rushrush" and "quick hug" vs "slow embrace") makes this middle-the-story tanka emotionally effective, and the closing phrase is layered with multiple meanings.

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