What are you trying to say?
Rainfall on the plateau
desolately striking the keyboard of night,
the dark sky about to fall asleep
in the puddle over there,
even the chirping of the crickets
leaking out through my thin fingers
Oh, what are you trying to say?
(from his collection Dream Fragments)
夜
君は何を言はうとするのか
高原の雨音は
淋しく夜の鍵盤をうち
そこらの水溜りに
暗い夜空がねむらうとし
虫の声さへ
かぼそき指の間からもれ出る
ああ、君は何を言はうとするのか。
Autumn flowers
sway on the mountain path in the morning,
a lonely-looking dragonfly
drifts into tomorrow overflowing with color,
a copper-faced mountain hermit
conceals the sound of cutting grass,
oh, this passing quiet landscape
I wish I could put it in a sky-blue envelope
and send it to your soft lap.
(from his collection Dream Fragments)
山路の朝
秋の草花は
山路の朝に揺れる、
淋しげなる蜻蛉が
こぼれそめた朝日を流れる、
赤銅の顔をした山人が
草刈る音をしのばせる、
ああ、かかる静かなる風景を
空色の封筒に入れ
君が柔かき膝に送りたいよ。
Autumn on the Plateau
Day after day the cold wind drifts through
Consider the gloomy plateau
cold creatures stained red with blood
wander beyond the darkening hill
Autumn on the plateau
time gets colder, heavier, accumulating
into the shape of a lonely red dragonfly
that drifts along without knowing where it’s going.
(From his collection Dream Fragments)
高原の秋
日毎に冷い風が流れる
薄暗い高原を思へ
赤く血に染つた冷い生物が
暮れゆく丘陵のかなたに彷徨ふ
高原の秋の
段々と冷く重くかさみゆく時
寂しき赤とんぼの形にて
ゆくへも知らず流れゆくものを。
little Taku’s
first calligraphy this year
a giant oval
拓チャンの書初め大いなる楕円
fig trees
gods or buddha
never saw them
無花果や神も仏も見たことなし
moonlit pillar
if you want to bloom
be my guest
月の夜の柱よ咲きたいならどうぞ
under cherry blossoms
I do not wait to see
if they fall
桜の下散るか散るまで待てません
she is prettier
than I am
the tubifex worm
私より彼女が綺麗糸みみず
All poems originally appeared in Japanese at the Gendai Haiku Association Database (http://www.haiku-data.jp/).
stars falling
in the ramen
Koenji at night
ラーメンに星降る夜の高円寺
goodbye summer
light–a man
washing a spoon
さらば夏の光よ男匙洗う
plum flowers
every single one
radioactive
梅一輪一輪ずつの放射能
I wish I had
a telescope that could see
the autumn wind
秋風の見える望遠鏡が欲し
They ran away
from a tower
called school
Shortcut
Rapunzels
学校という名の塔から逃げ出したショートカットのラプンツェルたち
Wanting to be a genius
the science kid
built a robot
and named it
after his mother
天才になりたい理系の少年がロボット作り母の名つけた
Melon bread
does not contain
melon juice
Reading a novel
I can’t shed tears
メロンパンメロン果汁は含まない小説読んで涙できない
NOTE: These poems originally appeared in the Japanese literary anthology Musica, vol. 2 (2015).
living together
with a single goldfish
raining in Ginza
いっぴきの金魚と暮らす銀座に雨
old scarecrow
crying out something
in the wind
案山子翁何か叫びぬ風の中
NOTE: Haiku taken from the Gendai Haiku Association Database (http://www.haiku-data.jp/).
in my weak stomach
comes the pain
of flower petals
弱き胃に花ひとひらの痛みくる
NOTE: Poem taken from the Gendai Haiku Association Web site: http://www.haiku-data.jp/
the soul
leaving behind its shape
cicada shell
たましひのかたちを残し蟬の殻
Entry No. 1 