Poem
Shinjiro Kurahara
A Vixen
When snow fallson the back of a wild fox,
it becomes a pale blue shadow.
At night in a blizzard
the shadow comes running straight down
from the mountain,
circling the fences in a frozen village,
moving around the orange dreams of the people.
The blue shadow, before they know it,
sits in front of a chicken coop.
Before dawn in February,
in the gleam of a damask mantle of snow
the vixen returns to the mountain.
It is pregnant.
© Translation: 2010, Mariko Kurahara, William I. Elliott, Katsumasa Nishihara
From: Iwana
Publisher: Dowaya, Tokyo, 2010
From: Iwana
Publisher: Dowaya, Tokyo, 2010
めぎつね
めぎつね
野狐の背中に雪がふると
狐は青いかげになるのだ
吹雪の夜を
山から一直線に
走ってくる その影
凍る村々の垣根をめぐり
みかん色した人々の夢のまわりを廻って
青いかげは いつの間にか
鶏小屋の前に座っている
二月の夜あけ前
とき色にひかる雪あかりの中を
山に帰ってゆく雌狐
狐は みごもっている
© 1964, Shinjiro Kurahara
From: Iwana
Publisher: Dowaya, Tokyo
From: Iwana
Publisher: Dowaya, Tokyo
Poems
Poems of Shinjiro Kurahara
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A Vixen
When snow fallson the back of a wild fox,
it becomes a pale blue shadow.
At night in a blizzard
the shadow comes running straight down
from the mountain,
circling the fences in a frozen village,
moving around the orange dreams of the people.
The blue shadow, before they know it,
sits in front of a chicken coop.
Before dawn in February,
in the gleam of a damask mantle of snow
the vixen returns to the mountain.
It is pregnant.
© 2010, Mariko Kurahara, William I. Elliott, Katsumasa Nishihara
From: Iwana
Publisher: 2010, Dowaya, Tokyo
From: Iwana
Publisher: 2010, Dowaya, Tokyo
A Vixen
When snow fallson the back of a wild fox,
it becomes a pale blue shadow.
At night in a blizzard
the shadow comes running straight down
from the mountain,
circling the fences in a frozen village,
moving around the orange dreams of the people.
The blue shadow, before they know it,
sits in front of a chicken coop.
Before dawn in February,
in the gleam of a damask mantle of snow
the vixen returns to the mountain.
It is pregnant.
© 2010, Mariko Kurahara, William I. Elliott, Katsumasa Nishihara
From: Iwana
Publisher: 2010, Dowaya, Tokyo
From: Iwana
Publisher: 2010, Dowaya, Tokyo
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