短歌と英語版 Tanka in Japanese and Their English Versions: Mar. 2022
↑庭石クッチー上の顔 ↑The garden stone "Kucchie," the upper face
部屋の壁にいくつもヤカンの注ぎ口が生えてきて白い湯気をたまに吐く On the walls of the room,
Kettle spouts have grown and
Sometimes eject white steam
顔が見える あちらこちらに顔が見える どの顔もみな私そっくり I see faces,
I see faces here and there,
All of them just like me
ある本の全ての文字が昆虫の大群となり草を食べに行く All the letters
In a book have become insects
And gone out to eat grass
いくつもの手のひらたちが私の部屋をクラゲのように漂う
In the air of my room,
A number of palms are drifting
Like jellyfish
壁じゅうに靴がびっしり貼りついて声をそろえて高笑いする A number of shoes have
Stuck all over the walls and
Guffaw in unison
声は出さず確かに心の中だけで叫んだはずだがこだまが聞こえた
I screamed only
In my mind, surely not out loud,
But I heard the echoes
しゃぼん玉のくせにいちいち風船のように激しくバンと割れるな
You are all soap bubbles;
Don’t burst with a loud bang
As if you were balloons
一日は魚で次の日は人間 そういうタイプの人魚だそうだ
One day she is a fish;
The next she is a human:
A new type of mermaid
水玉の模様になった野菜を食べ私も水玉模様になった
Eating vegetables
With a polka-dot pattern,
I got polka-dotted
背後から気配を感じ振り向くと虹がささっと影に隠れた
I sensed a rainbow
Approaching from behind; I turned
Round, but it hid quickly
パラシュートが真上の空で次々と開いた しかし薄れて消えた
Parachutes opened
Just above us, but they all
Faded and disappeared
秋に来て春にまた去る渡り紙飛行機と渡り紙風船たち
Here they have come again,
The migratory paper planes
And paper balloons
汗バームクーヘン、黄バームクーヘンと言われて気色バームクーヘン*
The Baumkuchen
Miffed, being called “Sweaty”
And “Yellowish”*
*昔「バムバムは汗ばむ黄ばむ気色ばむ ただ今ちょうど気色ばみ中」という作品を作ったことがありますが、今回のはそれの二番煎じです。
*“Baumkuchen (tree cake)” is a cake of German origin. It is very popular in Japan. The Japanese version of my tanka here consists of puns between the “Baum” which is often pronounced “baamu” in Japanese and three Japanese verbs “asebamu (get sweaty),” “kibamu (get yellowish),” and “keshikibamu (miff).”
髪のように眉毛がとめどなく伸びる 染めたりウェーヴかけたりできる
My eyebrows grow
Endlessly like hair. They can
Be dyed and waved
聴診器を自分の額に当てたとたんハウリングが起きぱっと離した
There’ll be a loud howling
If you put a stethoscope
To your own forehead
人々が両腕を広げ走り出した そして全員空へ飛び立った
With their both arms outstretched,
People started running, and all
Took off into the sky
溶けないで影がだんだん薄くなり最後にすっかり消える雪だるま
Instead of melting,
The snowman fades away, getting
Bit by bit transparent
ロウソクの炎が風で消えるように宇宙全体がふっとかき消えた
As a candle flame is
Extinguished by the wind, the whole
Universe vanished
体操をするかのようにその虹は右へ左へ身体をよじる
The rainbow twists itself
To the right and to the left,
Like a gymnast
一本の木のように夜空全体がそよぎ始めて揺れる星々
The whole night sky
Began to sway like a tree
Blown by the wind
空腹でも夜は寝ればいい 起きている間を何とかするのが「暮らす」
To “live” is to while
Away the daytime until
The night brings us sleep*
*We Japanese say “to live” or “to lead a life” as “kurasu,” which literally means “to make the sun set.” Maybe there are two reasons for this expression. First, sunset brings us sleep, which enables us to forget hunger or other daily necessities, but during the daytime, we have to cope with those urgent needs by hook or by crook until the “tender” night comes. Such feeling about the arduousness of life led to that expression, I imagine. Second, not needs but the complete lack of needs may be behind the expression. For some, the arduousness of life lies in too much leisure. They have to find something to do to while away the time until the sun sets.
広がった打ち上げ花火が消えるように空じゅうの星がすうっと消えた
As a firework which spread
In the sky disappears,
The stars all vanished
ぬいぐるみを中に入れると本物の生き物になる箱 その逆も可
If you put a stuffed
Animal in the box, a live
One will come out
まだ肉はついているのにその鏡で自分を見ると骸骨が映る
Though I have still flesh,
The mirror reflects me
As a skeleton
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