English Original
home again
I walk childhood streets
in morning fog. . .
where cobblestones end
a river flows to the sea
Marion Alice Poirier
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
再次回家
在瀰漫的晨霧中
我漫步在兒時的街道
鵝卵石路的盡頭
一條河流奔向大海
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
再次回家
在弥漫的晨雾中
我漫步在儿时的街道
鹅卵石路的尽头
一条河流奔向大海
Bio Sketch
Marion Alice Poirier is a lifetime resident of Boston, MA. She began writing haiku in 2001 and eventually began to teach haiku in workshops on Poetry Circle and Emerging Poets. She also write short poetry and have been published in on-line haiku and short poetry journals like Tinywords, Hedgerow and The Heron's Nest.
This tanka works effectively because Ls 4&5 expand a personal memory into something larger and more timeless.
ReplyDeleteLs 1&2, “home again / I walk childhood streets,” immediately establish a sense of return, both physical and emotional, as the speaker revisits a landscape shaped by memory.
And L3, “in morning fog. . .,” introduces a dreamlike quality. The fog makes the familiar streets indistinct, suggesting how childhood memories can become softened or blurred with time. The ellipsis also creates a pause before the poem’s perspective begins to widen.
Then, Ls 4&5 move beyond the streets toward the river and sea, transforming the poem from a recollection of one particular place into a meditation on time, change, and the continuity of life. The contrast between the stationary cobblestones and the flowing river is especially effective: while the speaker returns to a familiar place, time continues moving forward, carrying everything toward the vastness of the sea.