Akimoto Fujio (秋元不死男) Revisited

ねたきりのわがつかみたし銀河の尾

Bed-ridden for life
Wishing I could grab
The galaxy by its tail

橋に乗るかなしき道を道をしえ

Crossing a bridge
On a lonely road
A tiger beetle

終戦日妻子入れむと風呂洗ふ

The day the war ends
I will wash out the bath tub
For my wife and child

獄を出て触れし枯木と聖き妻

Released from prison
I touch a withered tree
And my saint of a wife

春惜しむ白鳥の如き溲瓶持ち

Sorrow at spring’s end
Holding a bed pan
Shaped like a swan

NOTES: Translated by Alex Fyffe and Yumiko Hori.

These poems were first posted on March 15th, but several of them have been improved with the help of my friend Yumi, so I am re-posting the corrected, final versions now.

All poems taken from the Gendai Haiku Association Database. Please visit their wonderful site at www.haiku-data.jp.

Haiku in Wartime

戦争へゆくかも知れぬ落葉焚く

–東京三

I may be going to war
Fallen leaves
kindle the fire

–Higashi Kyouzou (Higashi Kyôzô)

煙草も砂糖もない店のガラス壺の埃

–栗林一石路

Out of cigarettes and sugar
Dust in the store’s glass jar

–Kuribayashi Issekiro

手と足をもいだ丸太にしてかへし

–鶴彬

My hands and my feet
were disassembled and
replaced with logs

–Tsuru Akira

退却が待ち遠しい銃をかついでいる

–中山仮面坊

Waiting for the order to retreat
Rifle on my shoulder

–Nakayama Kamenbou

塹壕に一つ認識票光る

–西東三鬼

In the trench
a dog tag
catches the light

–Saitou Sanki

NOTES:

Higashi Kyouzou (or Kyôzô) was another pen name for Akimoto Fujio (秋元不死男).