I was sketching a tree leaf
I was struck by the beauty of its veins
I wanted to draw that beauty
It took great pains, but in the end
I drew the veins down to the last detail
The result was a hideous and eerie leaf
I must have been about ten years old
How the years just slip away
Oh, some thirty years have passed since that day
Thirty years later
And I am still struck by the beauty of those veins
I am struck by the brevity of thirty years
I still marvel when I see leaf veins in detail
And like the ugliness of that detailed sketch I once drew
I remember in detail the ugliness of those thirty years
* * *
僕は木の葉を写生してゐた
僕は葉脈の美しさに感嘆した
僕はその美しさを描きたかつた
苦心の作品は しかし
その葉脈を末の末までこまかく描いた
醜悪で不気味な葉であつた
それはたしかに十歳位の頃だつた
それはついこの間のやうで
あゝ その日から三十何年経つてゐる
三十何年振りに僕は
葉脈の美しさに感嘆してゐる
三十何年の早さ短さに感嘆してゐる
感嘆しつゝこまかい葉脈を見てゐると
嘗(かつ)てのこまかい写生の醜さのやうに
自分の三十何年のこまかい醜さがありありと思ひ出される