Gedicht
Mitsuharu Kaneko
Washbasin
Desolate noisesin the washbasin.
A rainy sojourn
at the darkening tanjung. (1)
Swayed,
listing,
my tired heart
still can’t get rid of the echoes.
As long as my life continues.
Ears. You must listen.
To the desolation of the noises
in the washbasin.
© Translation: 2008, Hiroaki Sato. Please note that editorial changes made to this translation have not yet been approved by the translator.
Though published four years after Japan’s defeat, this collection contains many poems describing what Kaneko saw and thought during his travels through Southeast Asia in 1929 and 1931–1932. One section of the book – a book of poems within a book of poems – entitled ‘Nampohshishuh’ (Book of Poems of the South), is dedicated to “those of mixed blood among the Southeast Asian races”. Under European rules for centuries, and with constant influxes of Chinese immigrants, the region had a great many people with mixed blood.
(1) Indonesian for ‘cape’ or ‘promontory’.
洗面器
洗面器
洗面器のなかのさびしい音よ。
くれてゆく岬（タンジヨン）の
雨の碇泊（とまり）。
ゆれて、
傾いて、
疲れたこころに
いつまでもはなれぬひびきよ。
人の生のつづくかぎり
耳よ。おぬしは聴くべし。
洗面器のなかの
音のさびしさを。
© 1949, Mitsuharu Kaneko
From: Onna-tachi e no eregii (Elegies for Women)
Publisher: Sogensha, Tokyo
From: Onna-tachi e no eregii (Elegies for Women)
Publisher: Sogensha, Tokyo
Gedichten
Gedichten van Mitsuharu Kaneko
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洗面器
洗面器のなかのさびしい音よ。
くれてゆく岬（タンジヨン）の
雨の碇泊（とまり）。
ゆれて、
傾いて、
疲れたこころに
いつまでもはなれぬひびきよ。
人の生のつづくかぎり
耳よ。おぬしは聴くべし。
洗面器のなかの
音のさびしさを。
From: Onna-tachi e no eregii (Elegies for Women)
Washbasin
Desolate noisesin the washbasin.
A rainy sojourn
at the darkening tanjung. (1)
Swayed,
listing,
my tired heart
still can’t get rid of the echoes.
As long as my life continues.
Ears. You must listen.
To the desolation of the noises
in the washbasin.
© 2008, Hiroaki Sato. Please note that editorial changes made to this translation have not yet been approved by the translator.
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