短歌と英語版 Tanka in Japanese and Their English Versions: Mar. 2024

↑ ブロッコリーの花　↑ Flowers of broccolis

畑じゅうのひまわりの花のそれぞれがゆっくり時計回りに回る　　　　　　　　
     Each of all the flowers
     Of the sunflower field is
     Turning clockwise slowly

二、三枚重ねられている紙のように私は実は二、三人である　　　　　　　　　
     To tell the truth, I am
     A few persons, like paper
     Of a few layers

「火星行き」と紙飛行機に書いて飛ばす　火星に着くのは数十年後　　　　　　
     I fly a paper plane
     With “Bound for Mars” written on it.
     It may take scores of years

手のひらを交換しあった人が今何を触っているかが分かる　　　　　　　　　　
     I have exchanged palms
     With a person. I can feel what
     The person is touching

色の順を逆にして虹が架かったが逆だと気づいてもらえずすねた　　　　　　　
     The rainbow reversed
     Its colour order, but sulked,
     As no one noticed it

いないいないばあをするようにドリンクがばあっと出てくるのがドリンクばあ　 
     At the “drink bar,”
     A drink pops out, crying “baa,”
     As if playing peepbo*

     *There is a piece of Japanglish, “drink bar,” which is a system in which a machine in one area of a restaurant serves drinks to customers who have paid a set fee for the service. The “drink bar” also means the machine, or the area where the machine is installed. By the way, “peepbo” or “peekaboo” is “inai-inai-baa” in Japanese, so the Japanese can fancy that at the “drink bar,” a drink pops out, crying “baa,” as if playing peekaboo.

気がつくと首から下が紐になり頭部が宙を漂っていた　　　　　　　　　　　　
     I found my head floating
     In the air, with my body
     Dangling like a string

鼓動するピッチャーマウンド　足の裏にどくんどくんと鼓動が伝わる　　　　　
     On the pitcher’s mound,
     We feel through our soles
     A heart throbbing

老いた空がしわしわになっていたけれどなぜか若返り張りがもどった　　　　　
     Having got decrepit,
     The sky was wrinkled, but somehow
     Has rejuvenated

扇風機を回すと集まる紙飛行機　前に浮かんで風を楽しむ　　　　　　　　　　
     Paper airplanes enjoy
     The draft from an electric fan,
     Thronging in front of it

雪だるまの形の雲が飛んでいく　目、鼻、口も誰かがつけた　　　　　　　　　
     There goes a cloud
     In the shape of a snowman.
     Someone’s attached features

鳴りながら自力で宙を飛び回る鈴、鈴、鈴の大群が来た　　　　　　　　　　　
     A throng of tiny,
     Spherical bells has come, ringing
     And flying around

代わる代わるオウムとインコが人間の言葉を発し会話している　　　　　　　　
     Uttering a word
     By turns, a parrot and
     A parakeet converse

リスのような尻尾が生えてしまった蛇　案外それが気に入ってもいる　　　　　
     Unexpectedly,
     The snake liked a new tail
     Like that of a squirrel

鬼ヶ島のまわりの海に住んでいる鬼ダコ　頭に角が生えている　　　　　　　　
     Ogre Octopuses
     Around Ogres’ Island have one
     Or two horns on their heads*

     *Japanese ogres have one or two horns on their heads. Ogres’ Island is the destination to which Momotaro, the legendary hero who was born from a peach (momo) and later subjugated ogres, headed with a dog, a monkey and a pheasant, who all became his vassals on the way in exchange for millet dumplings which Momotaro had around his waist.

銀河より金河と呼ばれたいなあと金色に光り始めた銀河　　　　　　　　　　　
     Wanting to be called
     “Golden River,” the galaxy
     Has become golden*

     *In Japanese, “a galaxy” is “ginga” which means a silver river. The galaxy seems to prefer to be called Golden River.

ジャバラーが出現しました　蛇腹式に伸び縮みして暴れています　　　　　　　
     Jabarah is
     Rampaging around, stretching and
     Contracting like bellows*

     *“Jabara” in Japanese is a bellows. “Jabara,” which is written as “蛇腹,“ literally means “the stomach of a snake.” “Jabarah” makes the Japanese imagine a bellows-shaped monster, which is as huge as Gozilla.

水上にネットを張って人魚たちがバドミントンを楽しんでいる　　　　　　　　
     Putting up the net
     Above the water, mermaids
     Play badminton

ハンガーがストライキ中　凝った肩をもんで欲しいと訴えている　　　　　　　
     Clothes hangers are all
     On strike, demanding to have their
     Stiff shoulders massaged

そよぎながら歌っていたら人間が根元に集まり一緒に歌った　　　　　　　　　
     As I, a tree, was
     Singing in the wind, humans came
     And sang around me

鳥の名がついている木々　葉がすべてその名の鳥の羽根なのだった　　　　　　
     The leaves of the trees are
     All feathers. Each is named after
     Birds, whose feathers it has