English Original
there’s a hole
in my heart
and all night
the claw-tipped wind
is ripping the prayer flags
Eucalypt, 34, 2023
Sonam Chhoki
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
我的心頭
有一個洞
整夜
尖爪的大風
都在撕扯著祈禱旗
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
我的心头
有一个洞
整夜
尖爪的大风
都在撕扯着祈祷旗
Bio Sketch
Sonam Chhoki finds the Japanese short form poetry resonates with her Tibetan Buddhist upbringing. She is inspired by her father, Sonam Gyamtsho, the architect of Bhutan's non-monastic modern education and by her mother, Chhoden Jangmu, who taught her: “Being a girl doesn’t mean you can’t do anything.” She is the principal editor, and co-editor of haibun for the United Haiku and Tanka Society journal, cattails.
The phrase, "a hole in my heart," in Ls 1&2, a visually and emotionally poignant metaphor, is used to express the feelings of loss or longing, often after a significant relationship or loved one has been lost.
ReplyDeleteAnd this concrete and multi-sensorily sharp image of Ls 3-5 takes on a symbolic and religious significance, adding emotional weight and psychological depth to the tanka.
And the following tanka could be read as its prequel:
even now
when I light butter lamps
at dawn
I hear father’s murmur ...
prayer flags in the wind
Skylark, 3:2, Winter 2015
Sonam Chhoki