Tanka Translation 35: Yuko Kawano

35  Yuko Kawano（河野裕子）

みづうみの湿りを吸ひてどこまでも春の曇天膨れてゆけり

mizuumi no shimeri o suite  dokomademo haru no donten fukurete yukeri

absorbing dampness

of a lake

the cloudy sky of a spring

swells

 

たつたこれだけの家族であるよ子を二人あひだにおきて山道のぼる

tatta koredakeno kazoku de aruyo ko o futari aida ni okite yamamichi nobor

this is all the family

I have—

two children between us

we climb a mountain road

 

あと三十年残つてゐるだらうか梨いろの月のひかりを口あけて吸ふ

ato sanjyû nen nokotte iru darôka nashi-iro no tsuki no hikari o kuchi akete suu

is thirty more years left for me?

sucking the moonlight

the color of a peach

with my open mouth

 

from “Gendai Tanka No Kansho 101” (Appreciation of Contemporary Tanka 101) edited by Ken Kodaka, Shinshokan, 1999, Tokyo, Japan