Tanka Translation 19: Nanako Takeshita

19　  Nanako Takeshita（武下奈々子)

「デジタルには過去も未来もないような」ポツリと言ひてはや寝入りけり

“dejitaru niwa kako mirai mo nai yôna” potsurito iite haya neirikeri

“a digital thing seems to have

no past and no future”

he mumbles and

falls in sleep

 

素足にて泥田に入れば足のゆび泥のぬくみをよろこびてをり

suashi nite doroda ni ireba ashi no yubi doro no nukumi o yorokobiteori

entering the muddy field

in bare feet

my  toes enjoy the warmth

of the mud

 

 

この子いつか吾を裏切らむ踏みつけむその日おそらくつん抜ける青

konoko itsuka a o uragiran fumitsuken sonohi osoraku tsun’nukeru ao

this child someday

will betray me and trample me

such a day perhaps

is piercing blue

 

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