静けさや
岩にしみ入る
せみの声
shizuke sa ya
iwa ni shimi iru
semi no koe
How quiet
rock absorbs
Cicada’s voice
Basho
I have written a little about Basho and Haiku before, and also the cicadas. There are so many they can be deafening at times, even in central Tokyo. Before coming here, I don't remember hearing them like that since I was a child.
I think it is because we treat our lawns with fertilizers and cinch bug killer and stuff. Not good for a bug that lives underground for years before it comes out to do it's thing (and probably not us either). Except for eating whale, maybe I am starting to turn a little green myself.
But let's concentrate on the poem. The translation is mine (kind of). It is not far off of a word for word translation, with some small changes to accomodate English structure. I've seen others that attempt to give a better sense of the feeling or cadence of the original. I like mine but clearly it is best in Japanese.
The seasonality comes from the cicada (semi). They come in August at the hottest time of the year. The noise, or voice (koe) as Basho more elegantly calls it, is deafening just like the season. But if you sit still like the rock (iwa) and clear your mind it soaks into you and disappears. All is quiet (shizuke).
This is my interpretation based on what Ikeda-san tried to teach me. But that is enough about poetry and the arts for a while. I think I need to eat some eel and drink a beer or something. The heat is getting to me.
1 comment:
I have interest in lots of things but you have to realize something about math and science... The sciences are very beautiful - just like art. And engineering is wonderfully precise - and yet imprecise - just like poetry.
Nonetheless, one of these days I am going to live in a little hut like Basho and not worry about the schedule and cost of the project I am working on.
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