English Original
mother’s voice
falters more each time
I phone her --
1000 kilometres between,
this pretence, it’s the distance
Gusts, 28, Fall/Winter 2018
Marilyn Humbert
mother’s voice
falters more each time
I phone her --
1000 kilometres between,
this pretence, it’s the distance
Gusts, 28, Fall/Winter 2018
Marilyn Humbert
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
每次打電話
給我的母親她的聲音
顫抖地更厲害 --
相距一千公里
她的借口，這是距離的關係
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
每次打电话
给我的母亲她的声音
颤抖地更厉害 --
相距一千公里
她的借口，这是距离的关系
每次打電話
給我的母親她的聲音
顫抖地更厲害 --
相距一千公里
她的借口，這是距離的關係
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
每次打电话
给我的母亲她的声音
颤抖地更厉害 --
相距一千公里
她的借口，这是距离的关系
Bio Sketch
Marilyn
Humbert lives in the Northern suburbs of Sydney NSW Australia. Her
tanka and haiku appear in international and Australian journals,
anthologies and online. Some of her free verse poems have been awarded
prizes in competitions and some have been published.
The upper verse sets the theme and mood while the lower verse is layered with multiple meanings, revealing something significant about the long-distance parent--adult child relationship situated in the context of aging. Marilyn's heartfelt tanka reminds me of one of my own below:
ReplyDeleteEnglish words
"nothing's wrong, I'm fine"
slip into
our phone conversation ...
Mother's ocean-wide silence
Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013