life-size clay horse
made to pull a chariot
for an emperor
unearthed, it has traveled
to a foreign afterworld
Pat Tompkins
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
為皇帝拉戰車
真馬大小的泥馬
最近出土，
它的足跡遠到
一個異國的來世
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
为皇帝拉战车
真马大小的泥马
最近出土，
它的足迹远到
一个异国的来世
Bio Sketch
Pat Tompkins is an editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She likes combining haiku with prose in haibun, which have appeared in bottle rockets, Thema, Haibun Today, and Contemporary Haibun Online.
This tanka is framed by the thematically dialectical phrases (life-size clay horse & foreign afterworld), sparking the reader's reflection on life, death, and the passage of time. It reminds me of Chinese "Terracotta Army" (life-size clay warriors and horses") that were made to protect First Emperor's tomb.
ReplyDeleteFor more information, see "Terracotta Army Protects First Emperor's Tomb," National Geographic, http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/emperor-qin/
Below is excerpted from Pat's emailed response to my comment:
ReplyDeleteI guess you could call this an ekphrastic tanka; there's a photo of the horse on my desk, from a traveling exhibit at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco several years ago.
Sincerely,
Pat