TANKA by Tamiko Onishi
translated by: John Lamb & Naoko Lamb
てのひらをくぼめて待てば青空の見えぬ傷より花こぼれくる 『無数の耳』
when I cup
my hands and wait
petals spill out
some hidden wound
in the sky of blue
遠き雲の地図を探さむこの町をのがれむといふ妹のため 『雲の地図』
I will search
a distant cloud map
to help
my little sister who
would like to flee this town
眠られぬ夜々に思へばみづからの羽根抜きて紡ぐよろこびも無し 『花溢れゐき』
sleepless nights
without the joy even
of plucking
my own feathers
there for the weaving
かたはらにおく幻の椅子一つあくがれて待つ夜もなし今は 『まぼろしの椅子』
now
not even some nights where
I miss
that empty chair
imagined once beside me
石臼のずれてかさなりゐし不安よみがへりつつ遠きふるさと 『無数の耳』
the unease
of the wobbling
stone grinder
takes me back
to my home far away