To the Flowering Wide-Open Sky

Poems

English
Japanese

Translated as “To the Flowering Wide-Open Sky” by Rina Kikuchi and Carol Hayes

That is the eye of all mankind.
It’s words, isn’t it, whitely echoing.
I take off my hat to put them in.
Just as the sea and the sky are hiding the myriad petals.
Someday soon the blue fish and small rose-coloured birds will pierce my skull.
What is lost will never return, will it.

Translated as “To the Vast Blooming Sky” by Sawako Nakayasu

They are the eyes of everyone.
Are they not the white resonant words.
I’ll remove my hat and throw them in.
As the sky and ocean conceal countless flower petals.
One fine day, blue fish and rose-colored birds will pierce my head.
Those we have lost are never to return.

花咲ける大空に

それはすべての人の眼である
白くひびく言葉ではないか
私は帽子をぬいでそれらを入れよう
空と海が無数の花弁をかくしてゐるやうに
やがていつの日か青い魚やバラ色の小鳥が私の頭をつき破る
失つたものは再びかへつてこないだらう