Poem
Sayaka Osaki
Aboo
At long lastYou went
Out
It was a quiet quiet morning
At times ever so often horseflies landed
On the northern hemisphere that is your back
You crawled chest stuck out toward the unsatisfied sun
Majestically you
Went out
It was a humid windless morning
Two spangle butterflies flitted in tangled paths
You walked at your usual pace
No one absolutely no one even noticed
When you escape you run fast or at least that’s what
Everyone absolutely everyone thought
There were times you went out for a walk
On the shell of a wise woman you met in a dream
You read the words follow me
And chose your meandering route
Heading out without much thought
But deep in your jawbone you knew
There are boundaries between
The inside and outside of the zoo
The zookeepers always
Came from outside before going back
The customers also always
Came from outside before going back
In your docile belief that the ground goes on endlessly
There was no tenaciousness written upon your brow
Your thick legs marched through shadows cast
By the highest branches of the cherry trees
As you munched upon the grass that tickles your throat
You raised up your head and looked to see
Which way awaits
For two weeks
Until discovered by a human father and his progeny
In the woods not so far away –
You were your own king majestic
The slowness of your pace might have been distressing
But never did you doubt the righteousness of a single step
© Translation: 2019, Jeffrey Angles
Aboo is an Aldabra giant tortoise. Around 11:30 am on August 1, 2017, Aboo vanished from the Shibukawa Zoo in Okayama Prefecture where she was allowed to roam freely within an enclosure, and her disappearance quickly became national news. When the head of the zoo was interviewed, he admitted, “We were duped by our preconception that since she was a tortoise, she had to be slow.” This poem contains references to Kaori Ōshima’s Japanese translation of Michael Ende’s Momo, in particular, the scenes in which the tortoise Cassiopeia appears.
Aboe
uiteindelijkben jij dan
naar buiten gegaan
een stille stille ochtend was het
op het noordelijk halfrond van jouw rug
maakte soms een paardenvlieg een noodlanding
in de verongelijkte zon stak jij je borst vooruit
en majestueus schreed
jij naar buiten
een drukkende windstille ochtend was het
twee zwarte pages verstrengeld in hun vlucht
jij liep in je vaste tempo
niemand niemand viel het op
iemand op de vlucht die rent altijd zo
dacht iedereen iedereen
je was al eens eerder aan de wandel gegaan
in het schild van een wijze ontmoet in een droom
de woorden te lezen kom maar met me mee
een omweg te kiezen
en naar buiten te stappen gaat ongedacht
maar diep in je kaak wist je
dat er een grenslijn loopt
tussen binnen en buiten de dierentuin
dat dierenverzorgers altijd
van buiten komen en naar buiten teruggaan
dat zelfs bezoekers altijd
van buiten komen en naar buiten teruggaan
je vertrouwde op de grond waarover je voortging
op jouw voorhoofd geen vasthoudendheid
jouw stevige poten schrijden
door de schaduwen van toppen van kersenbomen
je at gras dat je keel kietelt
en waar er op jou gewacht werd
zag jij toen je je kop optilde
twee weken gingen voorbij
tot in een bos niet zo heel veel verderop
een mensenouder en een mensenkind je vonden –
majestueus zet jij je eigen koning
een stap soms met vertraging en een inzinking
maar zet jij een stap altijd met legitimiteit
© Vertaling: 2019, Ivo Smits
De Seychellenreuzenschildpad Aboe mocht vrij rondlopen in de Shibukawa-dierentuin in de prefectuur Okayama. De verdwijning van Aboe, op 1 augustus 2017, om ongeveer half twaalf ’s ochtends, werd landelijk nieuws. Toen de directeur het nieuws kreeg zei deze: “Het vooroordeel dat een schildpad langzaam zou zijn heeft rampzalig gevolgen.” Dit gedicht bevat verwijzingen naar de schildpad Cassiopeia in Michael Endes Momo en de tijdspaarders.
アブー
ついにあなたは
外へ出た
静かな 静かな 朝だった
あなたの 背中の 北半球に
ときおり 虻が 不時着した
不満げな太陽に 胸を はって
堂々と 外へ
あなたは 出た
むし暑い 無風の 朝だった
くろあげはが二羽 もつれて 飛んだ
あなたはいつもの 速度で 歩いた
誰も 誰も 気づかなかった
脱走するときは誰でも走る と
みんな みんな 思ってた
散歩に出たことは 前にも あった
夢で出会った 賢者の 甲羅に
ツイテオイデの 文字を読み
迂回していく道を 選んで
出ていくなんて 思わずに
だけど 顎では知っていた
境界線が あるということ
動物園の 内と 外
飼育員さんたちが いつも
外から来て 外へ帰ること
お客さんたちだって いつも
外から来て 外へ帰ること
続いてゆく地面を すなおに信じ
あなたの額に 執着は ない
あなたの太い 足は 桜の
梢の影を 通りすぎる
喉をくすぐる草を 食べては
自分を待っているのは どっちか
首をもたげて あなたは 見た
二週間が過ぎ
そう遠くない林のなかで
人間の親子に見つかるまで——
堂々と あなたは あなたの王
一歩の遅さに落ちこむことはあるが
一歩の正当性を疑ったことはない
© 2018, Sayaka Osaki
From: 新しい住みか（New Dwelling)
Publisher: Seidosha, Tokyo
From: 新しい住みか（New Dwelling)
Publisher: Seidosha, Tokyo
アルダブラゾウガメのアブーは、岡山県の渋川動物公園で放し飼いにされていました。二〇一七年八月一日午前十一時半頃、アブーの姿が見えなくなり、全国的なニュースになりました。取材を受けた園長は「カメだから遅いという先入観が災いした」と話しました。／ミヒャエル・エンデ「モモ」（大島かおり訳／岩波書店）に登場するカメのカシオペイアの生態からの引用・参照箇所があります。
Poems
Poems of Sayaka Osaki
Close
Aboo
At long lastYou went
Out
It was a quiet quiet morning
At times ever so often horseflies landed
On the northern hemisphere that is your back
You crawled chest stuck out toward the unsatisfied sun
Majestically you
Went out
It was a humid windless morning
Two spangle butterflies flitted in tangled paths
You walked at your usual pace
No one absolutely no one even noticed
When you escape you run fast or at least that’s what
Everyone absolutely everyone thought
There were times you went out for a walk
On the shell of a wise woman you met in a dream
You read the words follow me
And chose your meandering route
Heading out without much thought
But deep in your jawbone you knew
There are boundaries between
The inside and outside of the zoo
The zookeepers always
Came from outside before going back
The customers also always
Came from outside before going back
In your docile belief that the ground goes on endlessly
There was no tenaciousness written upon your brow
Your thick legs marched through shadows cast
By the highest branches of the cherry trees
As you munched upon the grass that tickles your throat
You raised up your head and looked to see
Which way awaits
For two weeks
Until discovered by a human father and his progeny
In the woods not so far away –
You were your own king majestic
The slowness of your pace might have been distressing
But never did you doubt the righteousness of a single step
© 2019, Jeffrey Angles
From: 新しい住みか（New Dwelling)
From: 新しい住みか（New Dwelling)
Aboo is an Aldabra giant tortoise. Around 11:30 am on August 1, 2017, Aboo vanished from the Shibukawa Zoo in Okayama Prefecture where she was allowed to roam freely within an enclosure, and her disappearance quickly became national news. When the head of the zoo was interviewed, he admitted, “We were duped by our preconception that since she was a tortoise, she had to be slow.” This poem contains references to Kaori Ōshima’s Japanese translation of Michael Ende’s Momo, in particular, the scenes in which the tortoise Cassiopeia appears.
Aboo
At long lastYou went
Out
It was a quiet quiet morning
At times ever so often horseflies landed
On the northern hemisphere that is your back
You crawled chest stuck out toward the unsatisfied sun
Majestically you
Went out
It was a humid windless morning
Two spangle butterflies flitted in tangled paths
You walked at your usual pace
No one absolutely no one even noticed
When you escape you run fast or at least that’s what
Everyone absolutely everyone thought
There were times you went out for a walk
On the shell of a wise woman you met in a dream
You read the words follow me
And chose your meandering route
Heading out without much thought
But deep in your jawbone you knew
There are boundaries between
The inside and outside of the zoo
The zookeepers always
Came from outside before going back
The customers also always
Came from outside before going back
In your docile belief that the ground goes on endlessly
There was no tenaciousness written upon your brow
Your thick legs marched through shadows cast
By the highest branches of the cherry trees
As you munched upon the grass that tickles your throat
You raised up your head and looked to see
Which way awaits
For two weeks
Until discovered by a human father and his progeny
In the woods not so far away –
You were your own king majestic
The slowness of your pace might have been distressing
But never did you doubt the righteousness of a single step
© 2019, Jeffrey Angles
Aboo is an Aldabra giant tortoise. Around 11:30 am on August 1, 2017, Aboo vanished from the Shibukawa Zoo in Okayama Prefecture where she was allowed to roam freely within an enclosure, and her disappearance quickly became national news. When the head of the zoo was interviewed, he admitted, “We were duped by our preconception that since she was a tortoise, she had to be slow.” This poem contains references to Kaori Ōshima’s Japanese translation of Michael Ende’s Momo, in particular, the scenes in which the tortoise Cassiopeia appears.
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