at the window
I watch a swan take flight
from the lake ...
a hollow in the pillow
on your side of our bed
Eucalypt, 21, 2016
Gavin Austin
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在窗口
我看到一隻天鵝
從湖邊飛走 ...
在我們的床你的那一邊
枕頭上的凹痕
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在窗口
我看到一只天鹅
从湖边湖飞走......
在我们床的你的那一边
枕头上的凹痕
Bio Sketch
Gavin
Austin, lives in Sydney, Australia and writes mostly short fiction and
poetry. His work has appeared in many Australian and international
publications and has been successful in numerous writing competitions.
Gavin was the Featured Poet for the January 2016 edition of cattails.
An implicit simile is successfully established between a departing swan and the speaker's absent loved one in this relationship tanka that is tightly structured with an emotional undercurrent.
ReplyDeleteGavin's evocative tanka reminds me one of my swan tanka, one that I think could be read as a sequel to his poem:
ReplyDeletethe chill
on the empty side
of my bed ...
I curl into a dream,
a pair of swans on the lake
Atlas Poetica Special Feature: Dream Alchemy, 2018