English Original
the forest
the stars, the moon
all lost in fog ...
how will he find his way
from this life to the next
The Eternity of Waves, 2017
Susan Constable
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
森林
星辰, 月亮
都隱沒在大霧中 ...
他將如何找到出路:
從今生到來世
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
森林
星辰, 月亮
都隐没在大雾中 ...
他将如何找到出路:
从今生到来世
Bio Sketch
Susan Constable (1943–2026) was an award-winning Canadian poet whose haiku and tanka appeared widely in global journals. She authored the acclaimed collection The Eternity of Waves and served as tanka editor for A Hundred Gourds (2012–2016). Constable also co-edited multiple anthologies and judged numerous international short-form poetry contests.
Ls 1&2 establish a vast, anchoring landscape rooted in the natural world: the forest, the stars, the moon. These elements represent both grounded reality and celestial guidance. However, L 3 abruptly dissolves this landscape, swallowing it entirely in isolation: "all lost in fog..." The ellipsis acts as a visual and auditory fading out, mirroring the internal disorientation of grief. By erasing the external universe, the poet externalizes the internal psychological state of losing someone—where the familiar world suddenly vanishes into a blinding, numb obscuration.
ReplyDeleteL3, "all lost in fog...," functions as a classic Japanese kami-no-ku (upper phrase) pivot. It acts as a brilliant semantic bridge that operates simultaneously in two realms. Literally, it refers to the hidden stars and shrouded trees; metaphorically, it anticipates the transition of the human soul. The fog is no longer just a weather event—it is the liminal space between reality and the afterlife, the dense unknown through which the spirit must travel.
The poem shifts seamlessly from objective nature imagery to subjective human vulnerability in the shimo-no-ku (lower phrase). Ls 4&5, "how will he find his way / from this life to the next," deliver a poignant emotional ache. By framing the transition of death as a journey requiring navigation, the poem handles a heavy, somber theme with a gentle, haunting delicacy. It captures the profound helplessness of the living, who can only watch from the edge of the clearing as a loved one steps into the ultimate, unmappable fog.