English Original
sparrows gather
within blue gray smoke
chestnut fragrance
Eight Shades of Blue, 2007
Denis M. Garrison
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
麻雀聚集
在藍灰色的煙霧中
烤栗子的香氣
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
麻雀聚集
在蓝灰色的烟雾中
烤栗子的香气
Bio Sketch
Denis M. Garrison was born in Iowa, USA, and his childhood was spent in Japan, youth in Europe, Africa and western Pacific. His poetry’s widely published. Garrison’s print collections include First Winter Rain,Eight Shades of Blue, Hidden River, Sailor in the Rain and Other Poems, and Fire Blossoms.
In such a short space of 8 words, , this haiku captures a moment of shared warmth. The 'blue gray smoke' in L2 serves as a soft veil that blends the gathering sparrows in L1 into the human landscape of the street (as suggested from Ls 2&3). Rather than clashing, the natural and the man-made merge through the inviting scent of roasting chestnuts in L3.
ReplyDeleteIt is a "soft" or "quiet" juxtaposition—one that replaces the usual tension of the city with a sense of cozy coexistence, where the birds are as much a part of the stall’s atmosphere as the fragrance itself.