English Original
three best friends dead
before they reached sixty
an ankle vein
pulses faster than my
watch’s second hand
Arithmetic, 2020
George Swede
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
三個最好的朋友
不到六十歲就過世了
腳踝靜脈的脈搏
比我的手錶秒針
跳動地更快
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
三个最好的朋友
不到六十岁就过世了
脚踝静脉的脉搏
比我的手表秒针
跳动地更快
Bio Sketch
George Swede's most recent collections of haiku are Almost Unseen (Decatur, IL: Brooks Books, 2000), Joy In Me Still (Edmonton: Inkling Press, 2010) and micro haiku: three to nine syllables (Inspress, 2014). He is a former editor of Frogpond: Journal of the Haiku Society of America (2008-2012) and a former Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives (2008-2009).
The opening statement of Ls 1&2 sets the theme while the closing image )f Ls 3-5 visually and emotionally enhances the tone and mood of this existential angst tanka, reminding me of the following remark:
ReplyDeleteThe death clock is ticking slowly in our breast, and each drop of blood measures its time, and our life is a lingering fever.
-- Georg Buchner
And the following tanka included in the same collection could be read as a sequel:
outdoor café
a man as old as i
with a smile
that reveals a truce
with sadness