短歌と英語版 Tanka in Japanese and Their English Versions: Sep. 2016
それぞれの周期で豆がふくらんだり縮んだりして呼吸している
Swelling and contracting
In each cycle, the beans
Are all breathing
危険なほどふくらんだ月は安全な大きさに戻るまでガスを抜く
When the moon has swelled
To a dangerous degree,
We vent gas from it
思い切り鼻から水を吸い込んでその水を飛ばし距離を競う象
The elephants vie
In the distance to which
They spout water
ステージにはアコーデオンを弾くゴリラとじっと逆立ちしている人間
A scene: a gorilla,
With an accordion; a man,
Standing on his hands
蛇が幹を上ってきたが私は蛇を眠らせる歌を歌った
The snake came up
The trunk, but I sang a song
To put it to sleep
十日あまり満月ばかり出ていたがバンと音がして三日月になった
For ten days or so, there
Had been a full moon, but it burst
And became a crescent
輪になって十匹ほどの蝶たちが人の周りをぐるぐると飛ぶ
A dozen butterflies
Are flying in a circle
Around a person
湖へ小石が雨のように降り湖はやがて埋まってしまった
Pebbles rained down
On the lake and it filled up
Eventually
猫の手が成層圏を引っかくと夜空に四つ星が流れる
When a cat scratches
The stratosphere with it paw,
Four stars shoot together
空に虹が架かるといつも棒で虹をばんばんと打ちほこりを飛ばす
When a rainbow appears,
They beat it with a stick to send
The dust flying
人々が暇をつぶしていった後つぶれた暇が転がっている
The spare time which
The people killed is left
Lying dead at the place*
*In Japanese, “to kill time” is “hima-wo-tsubusu,” literally “to crush leisure,” so in Japan, when some people killed time, some pieces of leisure are left lying around at the place, each crushed like an empty can.
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