露に濡れた純白の花房が

思いをひそめて語りつぐ

 

今　浦和の地に生い茂っているけれど

小鳥が種を落としたのは多摩川の上流

平井川のほとり

そこで清流の囁きを聞いて成長したと

 

野ばらは　その川辺から人の手を経て

武蔵小金井の地に運ばれて幾十年

ベランダの上を覆い見事なアーチ型に

育って

甘味な香りを放って咲き満ちた

 

俄かに五年前　浦和の地に移されて

健気に根付いて生い繁り

初夏の高い空に向かって

白い繚乱を飾っている

 

野ばらはほんわり咲き誇りながら

生育した川辺に思いを馳せるけれど

コンクリートの堤防には

小鳥がいくら種を落としても

カラカラと乾く音だけで芽生えはしない

疾うに清流が消えたことも知っている

 

野ばらは曇天のしたでも今を

いっぱいに咲ききることに集中する

 

 

A little story of wild roses

Pure white blossoms covered in dew

Whisper to me softly

 

The earth at Urawa is thick with them now

But their seeds were scattered upstream of the Tamagawa River by birds

At the banks of the Hiraigawa River

They grew strong there, witness to the whisper of the crystal clear streams

 

The wild roses traveled, by the hands of people, to Musasikoganei

Decades later, they decorated the land in a broad arch, seen from the veranda

Amidst the wind and the sun, their sweet scent fills the air

 

In the blink of an eye, they floated to Urawa just five years ago

Firmly rooted in the earth, they face upwards toward the vast summer sky

 

The white carpets of wild rose blossoms

Are blessed with the faintest of aromas

They are deeply grateful to the riverbed

That has given birth to them

But no matter how many seeds the birds scatter on the

Concrete banks, they make only a cold, dry sound, and so not grow

They know the clear streams are no longer

 

Even under a cloudy sky

The wild roses struggle to bloom, until they can bloom no more