Monday, June 29, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Funeral Tanka by Keitha Keyes

English Original

no black
by request
at her funeral ...
raindrops glisten
on my silken parasol

GUSTS, 19, Spring/Summer 2014

Keitha Keyes


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

她的葬禮
要求送葬者
不要穿黑色衣服 ...
在我的絲質遮陽傘上
雨滴閃閃發光

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

她的葬礼
要求送葬者
不要穿黑色衣服 ...
在我的丝质遮阳伞上
雨滴闪闪发光


Bio Sketch

Keitha Keyes lives in Sydney but her heart is still in the Australian bush where she grew up. She mostly writes tanka and related genres, revelling in the inspiration, friendship and generosity of these writing communities. Her work appears in many print and online journals and anthologies.

1 comment:

  1. The "uncustomary request" stated in the upper verse says something significant about the deceased person's character/view of life, and in the lower verse, the visually evocative and symbolically rich L4 adds emotional weight to the poem.

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