Month: December 2019

Poetry from Japan 2019

お風呂の後
光は障子
に来ている

After a bath,
light is coming
in through the paper door

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温泉の中
お水は富士山
鏡なった

In the hot spring
the water became
a mirror of Mount Fuji

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日没に
一緒に月を見た
江ノ島で

At sunset
we watched the moon
together on Enoshima

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雲の中で
山さんの顔は
不思議だった

The mountain’s face
inside the clouds
was mysterious

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この神社で
本当にトトロ
が木でいる？

Does Totoro really
live in the tree
at this shrine?

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空と山
の会うところは
ちょうこうだ

The place where
the sky and mountain met
was a blush

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沈黙から
鳥一羽歌
風みたい

From the silence
came the song a single
bird like the wind

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お父さんは
この風の中
もいますか？

Father, are you
also
in this wind?

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疲れ時
に暖かい茶
はいいねー

Isn’t a warm cup
of tea so nice
when you’re tired?

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小雨降る
時に祖谷そば
は正解

When it’s gently raining,
Iya soba
is the right answer

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曇りの日に
影がない
原爆ドーム
の下で

There are no shadows
on a cloudy day
under the A-Bomb Dome

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遠い声
が聞いているの
静か胸

Hearing distance
voices:
a quiet chest

*************************

電車で
サラリーマン
の前は本があるけど
目が動いてない

Though the salaryman
on the train is holding
a book, his eyes
aren’t moving

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ENGLISH ORIGINALS

Yesterday’s moon:
barely perceptible
through tonight’s clouds

*************************

Wind coursing through
a bamboo grove:
chimes interrupted
by Chinese cameras

*************************

Autumn deepens
despite the sunny afternoon
after morning rain

*************************

You last flowers hanging
on the boughs, how ever
will you stand against the frost?