English Original
New Year's Day
dead chrysanthemums still
at the garden's edge
Haiku: Ancient and Modern, 2002
Masaoka Shiki
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
元旦
枯死的菊花依然
在花園的邊緣
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
元旦
枯死的菊花依然
在花园的边缘
Bio Sketch
Masaoka Shiki (October 14, 1867 -- September 19, 1902) was a Japanese poet and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku, and he also published articles on the reform of tanka. Some scholars and poets consider Shiki to be one of the four great haiku masters, the others being Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa.
L1 sets the theme while unexpected yet visually poignant and symbolically rich Ls 2&3 function like a foreshadowing of things/a tough year to come.
ReplyDeleteAnd "still" in L2 adds emotional weight to the haiku.
And the following haiku could be read as its prequel:
loneliness
after the fireworks
a falling star
Haiku: Ancient and Modern, 2002
Masaoka Shiki
FYI: To the Japanese, the chrysanthemum symbolizes royalty, longevity and rejuvenation.
Shiki's century-old New Year haiku is still thematically and emotionally relevant to most of the people when faced with the rise of White Supremacy and Trumperica in the third decade of the 21st century.
DeleteThe following is my response haiku written in the context of the anti-immigrant sentiment in Canada:
New Year's reverie:
I unzip my yellow skin
put on a fair one
Revision:
DeleteNew Year's reverie...
I unzip my yellow skin
for a fair one