butterflies
with golden wings
fly so easily
across the border --
my thoughts pause
Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014
Kurt F. Svatek
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
金色翅膀
的蝴蝶們
如此輕鬆地
飛越邊界 --
我的思緒被打斷
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
金色翅膀
的蝴蝶们
如此轻松地
飞越边界 --
我的思绪被打断
Bio Sketch
Living in Vienna, Kurt F. Svatek has published 59 books, including poetry, aphorisms, essays, short stories, haiku, and one novel. He also wrote several papers on aspects of philology and one textbook. His works were featured in numerous magazines and translated into many different languages, and he won 154 awards.
The cheerful opening image (of nature) is counterbalanced against the heavy closing thoughts on man-made boundaries.
ReplyDeleteEvaluated in the context of recent trends in global (forced) migration, Kurt's tanka is timely and sociopolitically conscious, and it reminds me of another border crossing tanka posted here:
Canadian geese
hiss at each passerby
somewhere
guns are fired
at a border crossing
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