Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Shuntaro Tanikawa

Toba 2

I don’t want to make this moment eternal
It is fine to own this moment just as it is
Even I have a way to seize a transient moment
The sun is already moving on

These words are merely
written on the sand
not with my fingers
but with my cheerful heart that shifts quickly to gloom

My children look like me
My children don’t look like me
Either way it pleases me

Along with sea shells, pebbles and pieces of broken bottles
my heart is left at the water’s edge of a planet
just as hard and vulnerable

鳥羽 2

鳥羽 2

この時を永遠にしようとは思わない
この時はこの時で結構だ
私にも刹那をおのがものにするだけの才覚はある
既にいま陽は動いている

というその言葉も
砂の上に書いたにすぎない
それも指でではなく
すぐに不気嫌に変る上気嫌な心で

子供は私に似ている
子供は私に似ていない
どちらも私を喜ばせる

貝殻と小石と壜の破片と
そのように硬くそして脆く
私の心も星の波打際にころがっている
Close

Toba 2

I don’t want to make this moment eternal
It is fine to own this moment just as it is
Even I have a way to seize a transient moment
The sun is already moving on

These words are merely
written on the sand
not with my fingers
but with my cheerful heart that shifts quickly to gloom

My children look like me
My children don’t look like me
Either way it pleases me

Along with sea shells, pebbles and pieces of broken bottles
my heart is left at the water’s edge of a planet
just as hard and vulnerable

Toba 2

I don’t want to make this moment eternal
It is fine to own this moment just as it is
Even I have a way to seize a transient moment
The sun is already moving on

These words are merely
written on the sand
not with my fingers
but with my cheerful heart that shifts quickly to gloom

My children look like me
My children don’t look like me
Either way it pleases me

Along with sea shells, pebbles and pieces of broken bottles
my heart is left at the water’s edge of a planet
just as hard and vulnerable
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