English Original
watching a leaf
trembling at the edge
of a twig
I sit alone on the bench
by the pond
Gusts, 35, Spring/Summer 2021
Aya Yuhki
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一片葉子
在一根樹枝的邊緣
不停地顫動
坐在池塘邊的板凳
我獨自一人注視
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一片叶子
在一根树枝的边缘
不停地颤动
坐在池塘边的板凳
我独自一人注视
Bio Sketch
Aya Yuhki was born and now lives in Tokyo. She started writing tanka more than thirty years ago and has expanded her interests to include free verse poetry, essay writing, and literary criticism. Aya Yuhki is Editor-in-Chief of The Tanka Journal published by the Japan Poets’ Society. Her works are featured on the homepage of the Japan Pen Club’s Electronic Library.
There is an implicit simile esptablished beween the trembling leaf and the lone speaker, and "trembling" in L2 could function as a psychological projection, which makes this tanka work well as a "mood tanka."
ReplyDeleteAnd it might be interesting to do a "thematic comparative reading" of the following tanka:
cramming
a fall universe
into five lines down,
pen in hand,
the seaside bench hard
This Shot Life: Minimalist Tanka, 2014
Sanford Goldstein