the short dash
between birth and death
on your headstone
did you get done
all you wanted
Ribbons, 15:3, Fall 2019
LeRoy Gorman
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在你的墓碑上
生日與死期之間
的一條短線
你完成了
所有你想要做的事嗎？
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在你的墓碑上
生日与死期之间
的一条短线
你完成了
所有你想要做的事吗？
Bio Sketch
LeRoy
Gorman lives in Napanee, Ontario. His poetry, much of it minimalist and
visual, has appeared in publications and exhibitions worldwide. He is
the author of two dozen poetry books and chapbooks. He is also the
winner of the 2017 Dwarf Stars Award
Enhanced by the thematically effective POV(second person, "you,' which is intended to mean the person/reader reading this thought-provoking tanka), the existential closing question, highlighted by the poignant prefatory image of a headstone, sparks the reader's emotions and reflection on Socrates' famous remark made in his trial for impiety and corrupting youth:
ReplyDeleteThe unexamined life is not worth living.
When young and confined within the four walls of my study room, I was deeply pained by Socrates' "unexamined life remark; it was like a dagger in my mind and in my heart. However, when I grew out of the space, material and intellectual, I lived in, I knew this was a question raised by an intellectually curious person who had a deep and persistent desire to know things outside his confined world, without the gnawing fear that the next meal couldn't be counted on.
DeleteThe following is my poetic response to Socrates' "unexamined life remark:
the smell
of harvest fills the air ...
moonlight
lingers between the dates
on a migrant's headstone
Atlas Poetica, 12, July 2012