Sunday, May 6, 2018

One Man's Maple Moon: Final Spring Tanka by an'ya

English Original

that final spring
we were together flying
our kite -- until
you let loose the string
and heart from soul divided

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, 2009

an'ya


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

那最後的春天
我們在一起
放風箏 -- 直到
你同時放掉了風箏線
和來自分裂心靈的內心

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

那最后的春天
我们在一起
放风筝 -- 直到
你同时放掉了风筝线
和来自分裂心灵的内心


Bio Sketch

an'ya is a haiku and tanka poet who has been published in over 60 foreign languages, and appeared in places and publications worldwide. If you would like to read more of her works and a complete biography, please visit http://tankaanya.com/

1 comment:

  1. an'ya uses a kite to link the internal and external worlds. The caesura comes at the exact middle of the poem; the em dash cleanly divides the poem into 'before' and 'after' in a way that no word could do. Only the blankness of a punctuation mark can sever the two parts of the poem while simultaneously joining them.

    -- excerpted from "Introduction," Take Five edited by M. Kei

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