English Original
breast-feeding
a gesture of something
beast-like
pitiful to think tenderly
that it is called a child
White Letter Poems, 1998
Fumi Saito
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
哺乳
一種看像是野獸般
的姿態
真是可憐溫柔地想到
那就是所謂的小孩
哺乳
一种看像是野兽般
的姿态
真是可怜温柔地想到
那就是所谓的小孩
Bio Sketch
Daughter of a military officer who was noted for his verse-writing talent, Fumi Saito began writing poetry in the traditional 31-syllable tanka form in her early teens. Her first book of tanka, Fish Songs, published in 1940, immediately established her as a brilliant young poet. She was inducted into the Japan Art Academy in 1993 and invited to serve as meshiudo (a position similar to the Poet Laureate's) at the Imperial Palace in 1997.
Fumi's thought-provoking tanka effectively builds, line by line, to an unexpected yet thematically significant and emotionally challenging ending that reveals her heretical view on motherhood.
ReplyDeleteAnd it might be interesting to do a comparative reading of the following tanka:
ripening
like fruits of sorrow
the heaviness
when holding a child
is boundless
Breasts of Snow, 2004
Fumiko Nakajo