River Of Stars Poem by Akiko Yosano

River Of Stars

Rating: 2.9


Left on the beach
Full of water
A worn out boat
Reflects the white sky --
Of early autumn.

Swifter than hail
Lighter than a feather,
A vague sorrow
Crossed my mind.

Feeling you nearby,
how could I not come
to walk beneath
this evening moon rising
over flowering fields.

It was only
the thin thread of a cloud,
almost transparent,
leading me along the way
like an ancient sacred song.

I say his poem,
propped against this frozen wall,
in the late evening,
as bitter autumn rain
continues to fall.
What I count on
is a white birch
that stands
where no human language
is ever heard.

A bird comes
delicately as a little girl
to bathe
in the shade of my tree
in an autumn puddle.

Even at nineteen,
I had come to realize
that violets fade,
spring waters soon run dry,
this life too is transient

He stood by the door,
calling through the evening
the name of my
sister who died last year
and how I pitied him!


Translated by Sam Hamill & Keiko Matsui Gibson

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Aria Hoshi 29 January 2017

Yosano Akiko's poems both flowing free-verse and capturing tanka, are truly fantastic- not only Japan's, but certainly one of the world's foremost female poets! :) I have a few of her compilations in both English and Japanese, I'd certainly recommend them (and the one this translation is from, 'A River of Stars') to anyone interested.

2 0 Reply
Pranab K Chakraborty 04 January 2015

... violets fade, spring waters soon run dry, this life too is transient # He stood by the door, / calling through the evening.....Much..Much...Much to communicate.

1 1 Reply
Savita Tyagi 04 January 2014

Beautiful poem. Thank you for the translation.

5 1 Reply

Violets fade New violets come Our loves were violets once Now its all gone and love is done

2 1 Reply
Jay Reynolds 04 January 2013

Exquisite poem, heart touching.

3 0 Reply
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