Poem
Toshio Nakae
A KIMONO
Feeling myself tied tosome deep wonder,
I tie several strings,
fasten the obi tightly and look in the full-length mirror.
Feeling myself tied
with some bewildering bond,
I fold many times over the psychological folds of womanhood
which is linked to motherhood.
I wrap my cold and burning body
with infinite tenderness and warmth,
while the man-woman relationship and four-season cycle
have passed over the unchanging woman’s pleasure –
and I found myself on that day in the fragrance of spring
when he embraced me in my long-sleeved kimono
showing yellow daffodils along a running stream.
He gently praised my twenty-year-old petals.
© Translation: 2007, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura
A KIMONO
© 1984, Toshio Nakae
From: Tou Tou Soku Sei (Head to the East, Feet West)
Publisher: Henshuu Koubou Noa, Osaka
From: Tou Tou Soku Sei (Head to the East, Feet West)
Publisher: Henshuu Koubou Noa, Osaka
Poems
Poems of Toshio Nakae
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A KIMONO
Feeling myself tied tosome deep wonder,
I tie several strings,
fasten the obi tightly and look in the full-length mirror.
Feeling myself tied
with some bewildering bond,
I fold many times over the psychological folds of womanhood
which is linked to motherhood.
I wrap my cold and burning body
with infinite tenderness and warmth,
while the man-woman relationship and four-season cycle
have passed over the unchanging woman’s pleasure –
and I found myself on that day in the fragrance of spring
when he embraced me in my long-sleeved kimono
showing yellow daffodils along a running stream.
He gently praised my twenty-year-old petals.
© 2007, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura
From: Tou Tou Soku Sei (Head to the East, Feet West)
From: Tou Tou Soku Sei (Head to the East, Feet West)
A KIMONO
Feeling myself tied tosome deep wonder,
I tie several strings,
fasten the obi tightly and look in the full-length mirror.
Feeling myself tied
with some bewildering bond,
I fold many times over the psychological folds of womanhood
which is linked to motherhood.
I wrap my cold and burning body
with infinite tenderness and warmth,
while the man-woman relationship and four-season cycle
have passed over the unchanging woman’s pleasure –
and I found myself on that day in the fragrance of spring
when he embraced me in my long-sleeved kimono
showing yellow daffodils along a running stream.
He gently praised my twenty-year-old petals.
© 2007, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura
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