Poem
Iku Takenaka
My Books
Ah, at the thought of my booksI feel like I’m being strangled.
The books I had devotedly collected
since I was 15 or 16.
They’d been my companions for much longer than my better half.
Though I had never counted,
there were well over 3000 of them.
Or possibly 4000!
On the morning of June 5th in 1945,
I had them all with me
and witnessed their end
as they all vanished in smoke.
Later I found a place to live.
Someone gave us mattresses.
But my books
my unfortunate books would not come back.
My terribly bleak and desolate life.
O my books.
I turn their pages from time to time in my dreams,
there are some passages I’ve learned by heart.
© Translation: 2017, Iku Takenaka
書物
書物
ああ 書物のことを思ふと咽喉をしめられるやうだ
拾五六の年ごろから
大切にして集めてきた書物
連れそそふ妻よりもずっと古馴染
数へたことはなかったが
三千冊は優に超えてゐた
いや 四千冊はあったかな
一九四五年六月五日の朝のこと
すっかり手許においてゐて
その最後を見とどけた
けむりになって失（う）せるのを
そののち家はみつかった
布団はめぐんでもらった
しかし 書物は
不運の書物は帰ってこない
身辺うたた荒涼
ああ 書物
夢に指でめくることもある
そらんじてゐる文句もある
© 1948, Iku Takenaka
From: 動物磁気 (Beast Magnetism)
Publisher: Ozaki Shobō, Tokyo / Osaka
From: 動物磁気 (Beast Magnetism)
Publisher: Ozaki Shobō, Tokyo / Osaka
Poems
Poems of Iku Takenaka
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My Books
Ah, at the thought of my booksI feel like I’m being strangled.
The books I had devotedly collected
since I was 15 or 16.
They’d been my companions for much longer than my better half.
Though I had never counted,
there were well over 3000 of them.
Or possibly 4000!
On the morning of June 5th in 1945,
I had them all with me
and witnessed their end
as they all vanished in smoke.
Later I found a place to live.
Someone gave us mattresses.
But my books
my unfortunate books would not come back.
My terribly bleak and desolate life.
O my books.
I turn their pages from time to time in my dreams,
there are some passages I’ve learned by heart.
© 2017, Iku Takenaka
From: 動物磁気 (Beast Magnetism)
From: 動物磁気 (Beast Magnetism)
My Books
Ah, at the thought of my booksI feel like I’m being strangled.
The books I had devotedly collected
since I was 15 or 16.
They’d been my companions for much longer than my better half.
Though I had never counted,
there were well over 3000 of them.
Or possibly 4000!
On the morning of June 5th in 1945,
I had them all with me
and witnessed their end
as they all vanished in smoke.
Later I found a place to live.
Someone gave us mattresses.
But my books
my unfortunate books would not come back.
My terribly bleak and desolate life.
O my books.
I turn their pages from time to time in my dreams,
there are some passages I’ve learned by heart.
© 2017, Iku Takenaka
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