Tanka by Nobuyuki Sakamoto
translated by: John Lamb & Naoko Lamb
風を孕む帆の曲線はたをやかな女人となりて誘ふ海へ
billowing sails
like beckoning
beauties
draw me
out to sea
海の上を赤く染めつつ真っ直ぐに入り日の帯は我に向かひ来る
across the sea
the setting sun
spreads
a sash of red
straight at me
振る竿の描く弧の中に狭岑島を遠く眺めて沖に釣りする
far away
Samine Island
caught
in the arc of
my fishing rod
川端の葛の葉陰の蛍火の灯りて消ゆる老いらくの恋
from the shadow
of riverbank creepers
a firefly light
fades like the passion
of an aging heart
僕タチニモヤガテ別レハヤッテクルソノ日ノタメニ笑ッテオコウ
we too
someday will part
so let us
gather all we can
of laughter on the way