Saturday, April 2, 2022

One Man's Maple Moon: Robins Tanka by Kozue Uzawa

English Original

one robin here
another robin there
and one more …
they bring spring 
to my winter eyes

I’m a Traveller, 2011

Kozue Uzawa

 
Chinese Translation (Traditional)

這裡一隻知更鳥
那裡一隻知更鳥
再來一隻 ...
它們為我的冬天眼睛
帶來了春天情景

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

这里一只知更鸟
那里一只知更鸟
再来一只 ...
它们为我的冬天眼睛
带来了春天情景
 
 
Bio Sketch

Kozue Uzawa is a retired university professor. She works as editor of the English tanka journal GUSTS. She composes tanka both in Japanese and English. She also translates Japanese tanka into English and co-published Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka (Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2006), and Kaleidoscope: Selected Tanka of Shuji Terayama (Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 2008). Ferris Wheel received the 2007 Donald Keene Translation Award for Japanese Literature from Columbia University.

1 comment:

  1. The use of repetition in Ls 1-3 visually and emotionally enhances the mood and tone of Ls 4&5, and this mood tanka could be read as a prequel to mine below::

    rose-fingered dawn
    slips through the skyline
    of Toronto
    a songbird and I
    bring news of spring

    PoemHunter, March 31 2022

    ReplyDelete