Gedicht
Hiroshi Kawasaki
A SONG OF LONGING FOR
I long for a very skilful midwife,for everything
to be neatly settled
by a quarrel,
and for a naked horse to walk along this way
from a street corner.
I long for no such thing
as a pension,
and even fires to break out as usual
with a keen-sighted man watching in the watchtower.
“A whale-shark!
Let’s get it!”
Sallying forth on their boats,
they find the sea’s surface boiling silver all over
and a lot of bonitos
caught.
Men and women
always sweating,
chasing and being chased
with sparkling laughter . . .
with no need to mention
how wonderful that is.
© Translation: 2006, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura
A SONG OF LONGING FOR
![](/media/4/7186_org_poem_hk_songoflo.gif)
© 1968, Hiroshi Kawasaki
From: Poems
Publisher: Kokubunsha,
From: Poems
Publisher: Kokubunsha,
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A SONG OF LONGING FOR
From: Poems
A SONG OF LONGING FOR
I long for a very skilful midwife,for everything
to be neatly settled
by a quarrel,
and for a naked horse to walk along this way
from a street corner.
I long for no such thing
as a pension,
and even fires to break out as usual
with a keen-sighted man watching in the watchtower.
“A whale-shark!
Let’s get it!”
Sallying forth on their boats,
they find the sea’s surface boiling silver all over
and a lot of bonitos
caught.
Men and women
always sweating,
chasing and being chased
with sparkling laughter . . .
with no need to mention
how wonderful that is.
© 2006, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura
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