Tanka: Dragonflies

Dragonflies

flying on my kimono

on my bag

in my dream

then fly in a scream

In the ancient times Japan was called "the islands of dragonflies."/p>

Tanka: The Tears of Frenzy

A grandmother dropped tears

the crystal beads chained her to the frenzy

her child left her alone beside the stove

the stove was burning and burning

till her crazy heart turned into a flaming Shura

Tanka:A Wife of a Defending Soldier

The thatched roof so rough

raindrops leak through down

without you beside

I should have here a deep sleep

my futon mattress so dewy to keep

Sitting beside the hearth

I rake ashes to add more woods

for more fire for my meal

my pot is too big for poor porridge

only for me with no courage

Shall I mend your working jacket

hanging on the wall

just now thinking of you?

don't you have something to mend

in the strange land me to send?

Waiting for your letter

I have no more thing

to do now here for my day long

last night I had a dream dread

it was your body dead

Tanka:At The Cherry Blossoms Watching Party: No.2

The cheery blossoms

watching party

now take sake wine and sushi food

for songs are we no rude

high in our festive mood

Eat dango dumplings

watch the blossoms in full

the park is now here for us

we sitting on the goza mat like thus

My heart on the cloud

the cassette music so loud

when we dance to it

together in a circle kind

the petals swirl on the wind

Blooming out

for a few days

the blossoms fall now

quick with no hesitation

like the samurai spirit for our nation

The cherry blossoms

on blooming out

quickly fall down to the ground

like your love to me for my sigh

down to live to lie

The Elegance

Some day you will come down

in a night of the full moon

riding a loyal carriage

towed by white cows

you might come descending

onto this earth

slowly and magnificently

soldiers will shoot arrows at you

one after another from roofs

but dazzled by your bright light

they could not shoot you

because you shine too bright

you are the moon

clad in the fine silk gown

you come down all the way

to take me

to the palace above the clouds

in the heaven

rich and gorgeous

I was a baby newly born

and discovered

by an old bamboo collector

I was crying inside the bamboo tree

it was shining

so I am called the shining princess

I have been nursed up by him and his old wife

with much love and tenderness

for my beauty

for my rich marriage

our house is a small cottage

thatch roofed in the bamboo bush

I am now a rural girl

everyday I am peddling around the village

the bamboo baskets my foster parents braided

vegetables they grew

it is my routine daily life

( This poem used the story from one of Japanese famous folk tales called "A Shining Princess.")

A Pity

Good by!

Yohyo!

I am now coming back to the heaven

now I have no more wings left

because I used them for weaving Chinese silk

I am not sure if I could fly

but any longer I cannot live with you

why do you say money and money?

we were happy

selling the woods you collected at the mountains

I warmed rice soup on the fire of our hearth

we picked up wild herbs

I cooked them for our meals

I am a crane

an arrow was stuck at my breast

by children's mischief

you pulled it out to save my life

so I shaped myself into a woman

to live with you to return my thanks

but some time you became a man

saying nothing but money and money

since the rolls of the Chinese silk I wove with my wings

had earned you much money in a capital Kyoto

where were your tenderness gone?

Tsu Tsu where are you going?

where are you flying to?

without you I cannot live!

good by Yohyo!

sometime

if you returned to the same man as before

I am coming back to you

now I have no more wings to weave

no more wings to fly

but...but... I don't know why

now in the sky I feel dear for you

it is a human yes I see

human's weakness and avarice

now they started looking

so dear and lovable to me

Tsu Tsu

you come back!

please!

come back!

Yohyo! I see!

sometime I will come back to you

when and after

my wings have all grown up

to embrace humans' weakness in my arms

to love and to live with you

together and

forever

縲拮is poem borrowed part of the story from one of the famous Japanese folk tales, "The Crane Returning Thanks" and its adaptation into the drama, titled "The Evening Crane (1949)," by one of the outstanding Japanese playwrights, Junji Kinoshita, 1914-2006.The names of the characters, Tsu and Yohyo, were borrowed from the drama version of Junji Kinoshita.)