camellia blooms hiding
in a deserted garden --
that colour of rouge
mother used to put on
when young
A Single Flower: 100 Bilingual Tanka 2003-2014
Kiyoko Ogawa
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
盛開的山茶花隱藏
在一個荒廢的花園裡 --
年輕的時候
媽媽曾習慣於使用
那胭脂的顏色來妝扮自己
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
盛开的山茶花隐藏
在一个荒废的花园里 --
年轻的时候
妈妈曾习惯于使用
那胭脂的颜色来妆扮自己
Bio Sketch
Kiyoko
Ogawa is a Kyoto-born poet, essayist and academic. She has published
five English and three Japanese books of poetry as well as a monograph
on T.S.Eliot. Her recent publication is A Single Flower: 100 Bilingual Tanka 2003-2014.
The contrast (the vitality of camellia flowers vs the aging of the speaker's mother) between the two parts of the poem is visually and emotionally poignant, and what's left unsaid in the lower verse is as potent as what's said.
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