Tanka: Dragonflies
Dragonflies
flying on my kimono
on my bag
in my dream
then fly in a scream
In the ancient times Japan was called “the islands of dragonflies.”
Tanka: The Tears of Frenzy
A grandmother dropped tears
the crystal beads chained her to the frenzy
her child left her alone beside the stove
the stove was burning and burning
till her crazy heart turned into a flaming Shura
Tanka:A Wife of a Defending Soldier
The thatched roof so rough
raindrops leak through down
without you beside
I should have here a deep sleep
my futon mattress so dewy to keep
Sitting beside the hearth
I rake ashes to add more woods
for more fire for my meal
my pot is too big for poor porridge
only for me with no courage
Shall I mend your working jacket
hanging on the wall
just now thinking of you?
don’t you have something to mend
in the strange land me to send?
Waiting for your letter
I have no more thing
to do now here for my day long
last night I had a dream dread
it was your body dead
Tanka:At The Cherry Blossoms Watching Party: No.2
The cheery blossoms
watching party
now take sake wine and sushi food
for songs are we no rude
high in our festive mood
Eat dango dumplings
watch the blossoms in full
the park is now here for us
we sitting on the goza mat like thus
My heart on the cloud
the cassette music so loud
when we dance to it
together in a circle kind
the petals swirl on the wind
Blooming out
for a few days
the blossoms fall now
quick with no hesitation
like the samurai spirit for our nation
The cherry blossoms
on blooming out
quickly fall down to the ground
like your love to me for my sigh
down to live to lie
The Elegance
Some day you will come down
in a night of the full moon
riding a loyal carriage
towed by white cows
you might come descending
onto this earth
slowly and magnificently
soldiers will shoot arrows at you
one after another from roofs
but dazzled by your bright light
they could not shoot you
because you shine too bright
you are the moon
clad in the fine silk gown
you come down all the way
to take me
to the palace above the clouds
in the heaven
rich and gorgeous
I was a baby newly born
and discovered
by an old bamboo collector
I was crying inside the bamboo tree
it was shining
so I am called the shining princess
I have been nursed up by him and his old wife
with much love and tenderness
for my beauty
for my rich marriage
our house is a small cottage
thatch roofed in the bamboo bush
I am now a rural girl
everyday I am peddling around the village
the bamboo baskets my foster parents braided
vegetables they grew
it is my routine daily life
( This poem used the story from one of Japanese famous folk tales called “A Shining Princess.”)
A Pity
Good by!
Yohyo!
I am now coming back to the heaven
now I have no more wings left
because I used them for weaving Chinese silk
I am not sure if I could fly
but any longer I cannot live with you
why do you say money and money?
we were happy
selling the woods you collected at the mountains
I warmed rice soup on the fire of our hearth
we picked up wild herbs
I cooked them for our meals
I am a crane
an arrow was stuck at my breast
by children’s mischief
you pulled it out to save my life
so I shaped myself into a woman
to live with you to return my thanks
but some time you became a man
saying nothing but money and money
since the rolls of the Chinese silk I wove with my wings
had earned you much money in a capital Kyoto
where were your tenderness gone?
Tsu Tsu where are you going?
where are you flying to?
without you I cannot live!
good by Yohyo!
sometime
if you returned to the same man as before
I am coming back to you
now I have no more wings to weave
no more wings to fly
but…but… I don’t know why
now in the sky I feel dear for you
it is a human yes I see
human’s weakness and avarice
now they started looking
so dear and lovable to me
Tsu Tsu
you come back!
please!
come back!
Yohyo! I see!
sometime I will come back to you
when and after
my wings have all grown up
to embrace humans’ weakness in my arms
to love and to live with you
together and
forever
縲拮is poem borrowed part of the story from one of the famous Japanese folk tales, “The Crane Returning Thanks” and its adaptation into the drama, titled “The Evening Crane (1949),” by one of the outstanding Japanese playwrights, Junji Kinoshita, 1914-2006.The names of the characters, Tsu and Yohyo, were borrowed from the drama version of Junji Kinoshita.)