English Original
flag-covered coffin:
the shadow of the bugler
slips into the grave
Selected Haiku, 1988
Nick Virgilio
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
覆蓋國旗的棺材：
一位吹號手的影子
滑入墳墓
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
覆盖国旗的棺材：
一位吹号手的影子
滑入坟墓
Bio Sketch
Nick Virgilio (June 28, 1928 – January 3, 1989) was an internationally acclaimed poet who played a pivotal role in popularizing haiku in the United States. Following his debut publication in American Haiku in 1963, Virgilio composed thousands of poems over a career spanning more than two decades. His seminal 1988 collection, Selected Haiku, remains one of the most influential volumes in American haiku history. To explore his legacy further, read Cor van den Heuvel’s 1990 essay, "Nick Virgilio and American Haiku: Creating Haiku and an Audience," originally prepared for the International Haiku Forum in Matsuyama, Japan.
Line 1, "flag-covered coffin," immediately evokes military service, national sacrifice, and the public rituals of wartime grief. This patriotic imagery connects seamlessly to L 2, where the bugler—traditionally responsible for playing "Taps" or "The Last Post"—signifies the finality of service and the honors bestowed upon the dead.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, the bugler's "shadow slip[ping] into the grave" in L 3 invites several compelling interpretations:
A Loss of the Living: A piece of the living world symbolically follows the deceased into the earth.
The Burial of Tradition: The spirit and memory of military tradition descend alongside the fallen soldier.
The Cost of Nationhood: Patriotism itself is implicated in the burial, suggesting that the shadow of the state, the institution, or the martial ideal accompanies the casualty.
The Lingering Shadow: More critically, the slipping shadow symbolizes the enduring, ghostly cost of war, which extends far beyond an individual's death.