Thursday, May 14, 2020

One Man's Maple Moon: Summer Moonlight Tanka by Sheila Bello

English Original

summer moonlight
slips in through the window ...
alone
I take a sip of wine
while reading Li Po's poem

Sheila Bello


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

夏天的月光
從窗戶溜滑進入 ...
獨自一人
我喝一口酒
並誦讀李白的詩

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

夏天的月光
从窗户溜滑进入 ...
独自一人
我喝一口酒
并诵读李白的


Bio Sketch

Sheila Bello writes haiku, tanka, lyric poetry, flash fiction and creative non-fiction. She lives close to the Scarborough Bluffs in Ontario, Canada. Sheila was born in Trinidad and migrated to Canada in 1972. She is inspired by nature and is an avid gardener.

2 comments:

  1. Sheila's allusive tanka effectively builds, poetic phrase/line by poetic phrase/line, to a thematically significant and emotionally powerful ending that reveals the Li-esque poetic theme of [being] "rapt with wine and moon." And the poem mentioned in L5 might be the most famous poem by Li Po: " "Drinking Alone by Moonlight" (Chinese: 月下獨酌)"

    And the following poem could be read as a sequel to Sheila's tanka:

    no wine no moon
    still
    I make my song
    from this pool of lamplight
    and the void around me

    NeverEnding Story,February 15, 2016

    Larry Kimmel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Below is my comentary on Larry's tanka published in the comment section of NES "Story,February 15, 2016" post:

      Larry’s tanka effectively builds, phrase/line (ku) by phrase/line (ku), to an emotionally powerful ending that has the most weight and reveals the Christian theme of creation out of nothing ("creation ex nihilo")

      His tanka was written in response to my haiku below:

      moonlight
      no wine, reading
      Li Po

      Simply Haiku, 8:22, Autumn 2010

      I was really honored.

      Note: Li Po (also known as Li Bai, 701-762) is known for his poem, "Drinking Alone by Moonlight," and he is called the God of Poetry, but who only called himself the god of wine.

      Delete