Saturday, February 12, 2011

Poems by Toyo Shibata

「溶けてゆく」 Melting

ポットから   Hot water
注がれる    Pouring
お湯は     From the cup
やさしい     Are like
言葉のようだ Kind words

私の      My
心の角砂糖は  Sugar cube heart
カップのなかで Melts
気持ちよく  Gently
溶けてゆく  In my mug

____
「返事」      My Reply

風が 耳元で    In my ears    the wind
「もうそろそろ   Invites me
あの世に      In intoxicating tones
行きましょう」   "Shall we go now
なんて 猫撫で声で To the other side?"
誘うのよ      

だから 私     So,    I
すぐに返事をしたの Quickly replied
「あと少し     "I'll stay here
こっちに居るわ   Just a bit longer
やり残した     There are still some things
事があるから」   Left undone"

風は        The wind
困った顔をして   With a pout on her face
すーっと帰って行った Swiftly returned from whence it came

____

「肩叩き券」         A Coupon for a Shoulder Massage

埃にまみれた         Something I pulled out
がまぐちの中から       Covered in dust
出てきた物          From an old coin purse

父ちゃん 母ちゃんへ    To Mommy and Daddy
十五分肩叩き券       15 Minute Shoulder Massage
(三十一年十月まで使えるよ)(Expires 10/1931)
健一                                               Kenichi

当時 小学生だった倅が  Back then    my boy was in grade school
わら半紙を小さく切って  He cut out cheap straw paper
作ってくれた券の束    And made us a these bundle of coupons

今でも            I wonder if I could use it
使えるかしら         Even now

______

「秘密」        A Secret

私ね 死にたいって   You know,    I've thought
思ったことが      So many times
何度もあったの     That I wanted to die
でも 詩を作り始めて  But     I started writing poetry
多くの人に励まされ And have been encouraged by so many people

今はもう        So now 
泣きごとは言わない   I won't complain anymore  

九十八歳でも       Even at 98
恋はするのよ       I love
夢だってみるの     And I dream
雲にだって乗りたいわ  I want to ride on a cloud  

[From くじけないで、2010, Asuka Shinsha.]

9 comments:

  1. Our publishing company called S&Y Associates was granted the publishing rights to North America by Asuka Shinsha, the Japanese publisher. The title of the book is "Don't Lose Heart", which just went into print and will be ready for market in June. For additional information, please check our
    website at www.kujikenaide-usa.com. "Don't Lose Heart" includes the original Japanese text and English translation. For further information, you may contact me at sugimoto@synergistics.com
    Regards,
    Lou Y. Sugimoto

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  2. This vast commitment of manpower severely strained the Empire especially considering that there were a further 300,000 French please visit. Minard’s famous graphic depicts the march ingeniously by showing the size of the advancing army, overlaid on a rough map, as well as the retreating soldiers together with temperatures recorded on their return.

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  3. i had to read this in class.

    ReplyDelete
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