Poem
Mitsuharu Kaneko
Seagulls
At the fiery rock snout as in mythical times,the barnacles, crowding, massing, listen to the groans of the earth, the roars of heaven.
Splashes leap deep into the purple cavern, flapping their manes.
The entire seascape of the lucid morning is sent off in briny mists.
At that moment, casting their shadows on the boulders,
the holy lanterns of gold angels offer,
two seagulls fly across the blue darkness. (1)
Toward the platinum lighthouse.
Playing on their thin flutes of life.
© Translation: 2008, Hiroaki Sato
(1) The two Chinese characters Kaneko chose for what is here given as “blue darkness”, sohmei (cangming in Chinese), are somewhat different to those usually applied to mean the sea or the ocean (although the pronunciations are more or less the same both in Japanese and Chinese).
海鴎
海鴎
神代ながらの火の岩鼻に、むらがり聚つてふぢ壺が、地のうなり、天のとゞろきをきく。
紫の岩洞奥ふかく飛沫は、鬣ふつてをどり込む。
清澄な朝の全海景は、潮煙りに送られる。
そのとき岩礁に影をおとし、
天使たちが提げる金の聖龕燈、
二羽の鴎が、蒼冥を横ぎつてゆく。
プラチナの燈台さして、
いのちの細笛をふきつれて。
© 1926, Mitsuharu Kaneko
From: Mizu no ruroh (Wanderings of water),
Publisher: Shinchosha, Tokyo
From: Mizu no ruroh (Wanderings of water),
Publisher: Shinchosha, Tokyo
Poems
Poems of Mitsuharu Kaneko
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Seagulls
At the fiery rock snout as in mythical times,the barnacles, crowding, massing, listen to the groans of the earth, the roars of heaven.
Splashes leap deep into the purple cavern, flapping their manes.
The entire seascape of the lucid morning is sent off in briny mists.
At that moment, casting their shadows on the boulders,
the holy lanterns of gold angels offer,
two seagulls fly across the blue darkness. (1)
Toward the platinum lighthouse.
Playing on their thin flutes of life.
© 2008, Hiroaki Sato
From: Mizu no ruroh (Wanderings of water),
From: Mizu no ruroh (Wanderings of water),
Seagulls
At the fiery rock snout as in mythical times,the barnacles, crowding, massing, listen to the groans of the earth, the roars of heaven.
Splashes leap deep into the purple cavern, flapping their manes.
The entire seascape of the lucid morning is sent off in briny mists.
At that moment, casting their shadows on the boulders,
the holy lanterns of gold angels offer,
two seagulls fly across the blue darkness. (1)
Toward the platinum lighthouse.
Playing on their thin flutes of life.
© 2008, Hiroaki Sato
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