English Original
I seem to be
a woman of glass…
so many panes
through which to see
the bending of the light
Certificate of Merit, 8th International Tanka Festival
Rebecca Drouilhet
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
我好像
是玻璃做成的女人 ...
這麼多窗格
通過它們可以看到
日光的彎曲
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
我好像
是玻璃做成的女人 ...
这么多窗格
通过它们可以看到
日光的弯曲
Bio Sketch
Rebecca Drouilhet is a retired registered nurse who works as a poetry moderator. Her work has won awards, including a Sakura award in the 2012 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Contest and an Honorable mention in the same contest for 2017 as well as Editor's Choice awards and others. She enjoys reading, word games and spending time with her large family.
This is a fine example of "character tanka." The simile employed in Ls 1&2 and L3, a woman of glass with many panes, works like a personal response toward a certain life situation, L5, the "bending" of the light, one natural agent functioning like a life force of some sort.
ReplyDeleteEach glass pane symbolizes one of the speaker's personality trait, and L5 reveals that the speaker is a person with perseverance.
For further discussion, see my "Tpo the Lighthouse," post, "Character/Persona Tanka," accessed at http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2022/09/to-lighthouse-characterpersona-tanka.html