English Original
the leather scent
of my father's watch
the clockwork
made the world turn
until it didn't
Hege A. Jakobsen Lepri
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
我父親手錶
散發出的皮革氣味
它的發條
讓世界轉動
直到它停止不動
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
我父亲手表
散发出的皮革气味
它的发条
让世界转动
直到它停止不动
Bio Sketch
Hege A. Jakobsen Lepri is a Norwegian-Canadian writer and translator. Primarily a prose writer, she uses haiku, senryu and tanka as daily practice to write distilled moments and listen to the sound of words. For more of her writing, see http://hegeajlepri.ca
Hege's tanka effectively builds, line by line, to an unexpected yet visually and emotionally poignant ending that reveals the theme of loss/death. And "the world" in her heartfelt tanka is layered with multiple meanings, functioning like a Husserlian lifeworld (German: Lebenswelt).
ReplyDeleteAnd it might be interesting to do a thematic comparative reading of the following tanka, which could be read as a sequel to Hege's tanka:
country town ...
sheep and cattle
roam the hills
I wind back
my father's watch
Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, 4, 2013
Merle Connolly