English Original
I am
merciless, childless
tonight
moonless sky
endlessly deep
Moonbathing, 6, Spring/Summer 2012
Kozue Uzawa
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
我是
無情, 無子
今晚
無月的天空
無盡的深淵
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
我是
无情, 无子
今晚
无月的天空
无尽的深渊
Bio Sketch
Kozue Uzawa is a retired university professor. She works as editor of the English tanka journal GUSTS. She composes tanka both in Japanese and English. She also translates Japanese tanka into English and co-published Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka (Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2006), and Kaleidoscope: Selected Tanka of Shuji Terayama (Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 2008). Ferris Wheel received the 2007 Donald Keene Translation Award for Japanese Literature from Columbia University.
Kozue's tanka builds, line and line (from human/personal, Ls 1&2 to natural/celestial, Ls 4&5), to a visually, emotionally, and symbolically poignant ending that reveals the theme of depression (one that is "endlessly deep," L5).
ReplyDeleteAnd the effective use of an adjective suffix, "less," meaning “without,” four times adds emotional weight and psychological depth to the tanka.