English Original
a whole day
listening to the wind
among green leaves ...
at night, an old lullaby
emerges in me
Cattails, October 2021
Daniela Misso
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一整天
聆聽綠葉間
的風聲 ...
夜裡, 一首古老的搖籃曲
在我心中浮現
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一整天
聆听绿叶间
的风声 ...
夜里, 一首古老的摇篮曲
在我心中浮现
Bio Sketch
Daniela Misso is a retired schoolteacher and a winner of numerous national and international competitions. She has published extensively in leading magazines dedicated to the genre. She is the author of Connessioni Sottili (FusibiliaLibri, 2021) and Ciliegi in fiore (Edizioni Accademia Barbanera, 2023).
This tanka achieves its power through a profound internal transformation, where the second half of the poem structurally and emotionally upends the first, rather than merely extending it.
ReplyDeleteThe poem’s pivot rests entirely on the brilliant agency of L5: "emerges in me." By avoiding the more predictable, active phrasing of "I remember an old lullaby," the speaker shifts from an agent of recollection to a vessel for it. The diction of L4 implies that the lullaby has been dormant within the speaker's subconscious all along. Ultimately, the sensory immersion of the daytime listening (Ls 1–3) acts as the catalyst that releases it.
The ellipsis at the end of L3 serves as a vital structural bridge. Rather than a mere pause, it creates a liminal space that facilitates the transition from the external, auditory landscape—the wind among the leaves—into the interior, psychological world of memory and ancestral comfort.