English Original
words of love
and promises never kept --
tossing another
empty shell
back into the sea
Gusts, 30, Fall/Winter 2019
Elehna de Sousa
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一大堆情話
和從未兌現的承諾 --
我將另一個
空貝殼
扔回到大海
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一大堆情话
和从未兑现的承诺 --
我将另一个
空贝壳
扔回到大海
Bio Sketch
Elehna de Sousa was born and raised in Hong Kong. She came to Canada in 1967 for higher studies and has stayed every since. Formerly a psychotherapist, she now is active in the world of mixed-media art, photography and short form Japanese poetry. She currently lives on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia where her creativity is nurtured by the quietude and beauty of her living environment, surrounded by forest and sea. In 2005, she published a limited edition book of photography and haiku, A Shower of Blossoms.
This is a visually evocative and emotionally poignant poetic exploration of "stimulus and response."
ReplyDeleteAnd there is an implicit comparison (maybe a simile) established between the bookended lines of this heartfelt tanka: "words of love" and the "sea."
One question still remains: how to throw away hurt feelings so they don't come back
And the concluding tanka of my tanka prose below could be read as a sequel to Elehna's:
"Hungry"
When I first tasted her kiss, it was like spring water coming from the green slopes of a hill. For six years, her succulent words quenched my thirst. Now, the spring of our life starts to run dry.
she tells a lie
to conceal another
at the banquet
I stack oyster shells
one inside the other