Sunday, December 7, 2014

One Man's Maple Moon: Bridge of Sighs Tanka by Debbie Strange

English Original

crossing over
the Bridge of Sighs
I felt you
folding into me
folding into prayer

Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014

Debbie Strange


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

跨越
嘆息之橋
我感覺到你
進入我的懷抱
進入祈禱的懷抱

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

跨越
叹息之桥
我感觉到你
进入我的怀抱
进入祈祷的怀抱


Bio Sketch

Debbie Strange belongs to the Writers' Collective of Manitoba and several haiku and tanka organizations. Her writing has received awards and been published in numerous journals. She is a singer-songwriter and photographer whose photographs have been published and exhibited.  She is currently assembling a haiga collection. Visit her on twitter @Debbie_Strange

1 comment:

  1. The implied contrasts (the physical scene vs the mental image; the symbol of separation from the world vs the religious significance of relational intimacy...etc) between Ls 1-2 and Ls3-5 are emotionally powerful.

    And the use of syntactic parallelism adds spiritual depth to the poem.

    Note: Below is excepted from the Wikipedia entry, Bridge of Sighs:

    The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri) is a bridge located in Venice, northern Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison (Prigioni Nuove) to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antonio Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge) and was built in 1600.

    "The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment." The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells.

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