Tanka Translation 60: Kyoko Inaba

60  Kyoko Inaba（稲葉京子）

音絶えて沫雪（あはゆき）にぬるる春の原手袋も用もなく出でて来ぬ

oto taete awayuki ni nururu haru no hara tebukuro mo yô mo naku idete kinu

no sound in the spring field

wet by light snow

I come out here

without gloves and a purpose

 

 かき集め火を放たねばいつまでも落葉は路上を走りてをらむ

kakiatsume hi o hanataneba itsumademo ochiba wa rojyô o hashirite oran

until I pile them up

and set a fire

fallen leaves will keep running

on the street

 

白き雲空を行きけり私はわたくしを見んとして苦しまむ

shiroki kumo sora o yukikeri watakushi wa watakushi o min toshite kurushiman

a white cloud floats

in the sky

I suffer from trying to

seet myself

 

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