Poem
Sayaka Osaki
Slowly flowing particles of the world
Winter morning, the last leaf falls from its branchPeople in helmets come out to conduct their surveys
And overlook everything else that happens
Meanwhile, they hold the day’s labor
Tight in their dominant hand
No one notices
The fox sauntering through the forest depths
The squirrel treading on the icy frost in the shade below the observatory
The fish tossed away by the fisherman and gobbled up a brown bear
No one notices (or so it seemed to me)
The people in helmets
Took polite satisfaction
Merely noticing the fruit in the antelope feces
The serious ones make notes
I was eating some bread from a bakery
The hardest workers felled trees, thinking of sunlight
I played a game I’d brought
What passed us in the meantime?
No one noticed
In addition to what we could see
Invisible particles were slowly
Flowing by
The moon passed through afternoon
Thin blades of grass grew wild
Where there were no more people or animals
The divided world closed its doors
Collapsing the distinction between those who see and those who are seen
Almost everyone saw something
Almost everyone overlooked something
One by one, invisible things were transformed into words
Someone stirred gelatin into water
Transformed it into language, made it visible
Then merely overlooked what now she could see
Slowly the particles, still invisible, flowed onward
Not necessarily good
Not necessarily bad
Becoming the source of someone’s life force
Becoming the poison in someone’s body
Growing rampant together
They energetically kill all else
Even as they seek to forgive one another
© Translation: 2018, Sayaka Osaki
ゆっくりと流れる世界の粒子
ゆっくりと流れる世界の粒子
冬の朝、最後の一葉は枝を離れて落ちるヘルメットをかぶった人たちが調査に出て
そのほかの出来事をみんな見逃す
見逃しながら、その利き手に
その日の労働を握りしめる
キツネが森の奥を通ったのも
観測所の日陰の霜柱をリスが踏んだのも
誰も見なかった
漁師の捨てた魚をヒグマが食べたのも
誰も見なかった（ことにした）
ヘルメットをかぶった人たちは
かもしかの糞に木の実が混ざっているのを見るだけで
お行儀よく満足した
真面目な人たちは記録した
私はアンデルセンのパンを食べてた
勤勉な人たちは陽当たりを考慮して伐採した
私は買ってきたゲームをやってた
その間に何が通りすぎていったか
誰も見なかった
見えるもののほかは
そこらじゅう見えなかった
ゆっくりと粒子は流れていった
月が昼を通りすぎた
細い草がのほうずに生え
人も動物もいなくなった場所では
わかれていた世界が閉じて
見るものと見られるものの区別がなくなった
誰もがたいてい何かを見ていた
それでたいてい何かを見逃していた
見えないものは片っ端から言葉にされた
誰かが水のなかにゼラチンをいれてかき混ぜ
言葉にして見えるようにした
そして見えるようにしたものを見逃してばかりいた
粒子はゆっくりと見えないまま流れていった
よいものでも
わるいものでもなく
誰かの命の源となり
誰かのからだの毒となり
ただ一緒にはびこって
元気にほかのいっさいを滅ぼし
お互いを許しあう関係を探しながら
© 2013, Sayaka Osaki
From: 指さすことができない（Pointing Impossible)
Publisher: Seidosha, Tokyo
From: 指さすことができない（Pointing Impossible)
Publisher: Seidosha, Tokyo
Poems
Poems of Sayaka Osaki
Close
Slowly flowing particles of the world
Winter morning, the last leaf falls from its branchPeople in helmets come out to conduct their surveys
And overlook everything else that happens
Meanwhile, they hold the day’s labor
Tight in their dominant hand
No one notices
The fox sauntering through the forest depths
The squirrel treading on the icy frost in the shade below the observatory
The fish tossed away by the fisherman and gobbled up a brown bear
No one notices (or so it seemed to me)
The people in helmets
Took polite satisfaction
Merely noticing the fruit in the antelope feces
The serious ones make notes
I was eating some bread from a bakery
The hardest workers felled trees, thinking of sunlight
I played a game I’d brought
What passed us in the meantime?
No one noticed
In addition to what we could see
Invisible particles were slowly
Flowing by
The moon passed through afternoon
Thin blades of grass grew wild
Where there were no more people or animals
The divided world closed its doors
Collapsing the distinction between those who see and those who are seen
Almost everyone saw something
Almost everyone overlooked something
One by one, invisible things were transformed into words
Someone stirred gelatin into water
Transformed it into language, made it visible
Then merely overlooked what now she could see
Slowly the particles, still invisible, flowed onward
Not necessarily good
Not necessarily bad
Becoming the source of someone’s life force
Becoming the poison in someone’s body
Growing rampant together
They energetically kill all else
Even as they seek to forgive one another
© 2018, Sayaka Osaki
From: 指さすことができない（Pointing Impossible)
From: 指さすことができない（Pointing Impossible)
Slowly flowing particles of the world
Winter morning, the last leaf falls from its branchPeople in helmets come out to conduct their surveys
And overlook everything else that happens
Meanwhile, they hold the day’s labor
Tight in their dominant hand
No one notices
The fox sauntering through the forest depths
The squirrel treading on the icy frost in the shade below the observatory
The fish tossed away by the fisherman and gobbled up a brown bear
No one notices (or so it seemed to me)
The people in helmets
Took polite satisfaction
Merely noticing the fruit in the antelope feces
The serious ones make notes
I was eating some bread from a bakery
The hardest workers felled trees, thinking of sunlight
I played a game I’d brought
What passed us in the meantime?
No one noticed
In addition to what we could see
Invisible particles were slowly
Flowing by
The moon passed through afternoon
Thin blades of grass grew wild
Where there were no more people or animals
The divided world closed its doors
Collapsing the distinction between those who see and those who are seen
Almost everyone saw something
Almost everyone overlooked something
One by one, invisible things were transformed into words
Someone stirred gelatin into water
Transformed it into language, made it visible
Then merely overlooked what now she could see
Slowly the particles, still invisible, flowed onward
Not necessarily good
Not necessarily bad
Becoming the source of someone’s life force
Becoming the poison in someone’s body
Growing rampant together
They energetically kill all else
Even as they seek to forgive one another
© 2018, Sayaka Osaki
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