オーストラリア紀行 〜ガンダルーに陶工を訪ねる〜
Australia Writing Trip; visiting the pottery at Gundaroo
くさはらに煙一筋のぼる昼「土」という名の人を訪ねき
at midday
when a column of smoke
rose from the grassy plain,
I called on someone
by the name of ‘Soil’
墓地の門くぐりて行けばはらはらと空より光のかけら降りくる
when I wind my way
around the cemetery
fragments of light
come fluttering down
from the sky
胎内の記憶ひらめく火のなかに物言わざりし幾十の壺
recollections
of the womb
in the flickering fire
surrounding dozens
of voiceless pots
名も知らぬ死体いくつも眠る庭に陶工ひとり土を練りおり
in the garden
where numerous unknown bodies
are sleeping,
a single potter
is kneading his clay
己が身をうつして粗野な焼き物の壺をいくつもならべてありぬ
lined up there
was some rustic pottery
made roughly
in the shape
of the potter himself
さびれたるチャペルの部屋に土器たちはそれぞれ古い祈りのかたち
in the rooms
of the dilapidated chapel
were pieces
of earthenware, each of them
in the forms of old prayers
罪人の流され人の裔にして日暮れを愛す男なりけり
descended
from exiled criminals
there lives
a man who
loves the twilight
燃料の木により色が変わるという土の肌に朝日がのぞく
he says the colours change
according to the firewood
used in the kiln—
morning sun peers down
on the earth’s skin
生と死の間みつめて物言わず土を練りゆく一生もよきか
staring into
the gap between life and death
saying nothing
kneading the earth—
that must be a good life, too
水のなきジョージ湖の底にちっぽけな五月の雲と私の陰
on the bottom
of waterless lake George
are
the tiny clouds of May
and my shadow
苦味ある蜂蜜くれしの媼いてその家のあたり青き花の香
there was an old woman
who gave me bitter-tasting honey
the scent
of blue flowers
surrounded her house
武勇伝数々もてる老女にて束ねし髪が涼しく見ゆる
the old woman
who had a store
of heroic tales,
wore her hair up i
n a cool-looking bundle
天漢のはずれのくらき星にして昴、古典のなかにうるわし
the Pleiades
with its dark stars
on the tip of the Milky Way—
how elegant the portrayal
in classical literature
