these small worries ...
wave upon wave
the ocean
collapsing
beneath itself
Presence, 58, 2017
Elliot Nicely
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
這些小煩惱 ...
一波海浪覆蓋
另一波海浪
海洋崩塌在自身
的衝擊之下
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
这些小烦恼......
一波海浪覆盖
另一波海浪
海洋崩塌在自身
的冲击之下
Bio Sketch
Elliot Nicely is the author of The Black Between Stars (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2017) and Tangled Shadows: Senryu and Haiku (Rosenberry Books, 2013). He resides in Lakewood, Ohio.
L1 sets the theme while the rest of the tanka visually builds, line by line, to an emotionally powerful and symbolically rich ending that deals with a timely and thematically significant issue regarding (anxiety, worry, and stress,...)the afflictions of life and their impact. Elliot's poignant tanka reminds me of my favorite Biblical verses:
ReplyDelete"Do Not Worry"
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own...
Matthew 6:25-34, New International Version (NIV)