Poetic-Verses from ATHANASE
Shikishi (English)
' But we know the sad fate of the man who dwelt here:
Like a dream he disappeared from this floating world;
Even though his name meant 'Eternal Mansions'...
The Teika Noh play
I think of the fate of Princess Shikishi! ...
The tears of the cherry tree petals
mix with my tears!
Did the princess really
tread with dainty feet
this same path decked in springtime
that I tread this morning?
Did she see
with eyes burning with love
this same mountain
where with such tenderness
pines and creepers grow
inextricably close?
Now, in the embrace
of this tombstone
adorned with mauve moss
and sealed by exuberant pueraria
she sleeps
for all eternity!
O heavens, how time changes shape,
how it makes life and death unreal!
O crystal-clear song of the robins
in the green silk air!
A song oblivious to
the slow slipping of the world
towards the silent abyss!
translated from the French of Athanase Vantchev de Thracy by Norton Hodges
14.09.06.
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Shikishi (English)
Shikishi (English)
