Wednesday, July 31, 2019

One Man's Maple Moon: Tsen-Den Tanka by Sonam Chhoki

English Original

how does one
measure time by this slope
of unchanging tsen-den
I still want to hide-and-seek
in their fragrant shadow

cattails, January 2016 Issue

Sonam Chhoki


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一人如何測量
這個不變的不丹國樹樹幹斜度
花了多少時間   
在它們充滿香味的陰影中
我仍然想要玩捉迷藏遊戲

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一人如何测量
这个不变的不丹国树树干斜度
花了多少时间
在它们充满香味的阴影中
我仍然想要玩捉迷藏游戏


Bio Sketch

Sonam Chhoki finds the Japanese short form poetry resonates with her Tibetan Buddhist upbringing.  She is inspired by her father, Sonam Gyamtsho, the architect of Bhutan's non-monastic modern education and by her mother, Chhoden Jangmu, who taught her: “Being a girl doesn’t mean you can’t do anything.” She is the principal editor, and co-editor of haibun for the United Haiku and Tanka Society journal, cattails.

1 comment:

  1. The opening rhetorical question in the upper verse effectively conveys the speaker's nostalgia for his/her childhood embodied in unchanging tsen-den (cypressus tortulosa, national tree of Bhutan).

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