Gerald Dawe (1952-2024)
You departed in the morning; in the evening my heart in a thousand pieces shattered
Why are you gone so far?
With you in my mind, I wander the hillsides
Why are the hills in pain?
The dandelion blooming yellow, the nazuna white
No one now to see them with
Is that the pheasant? I hear it mourn:
‘I had a friend, on the other side of the river he lived
Ghostly smoke rises and is torn, the west wind blows
so hard through the bamboo and the sedge
there’s nowhere to hide
I had a friend, on the other side of the river he lived, today
no hororo call’
You departed in the morning; in the evening my heart in a thousand pieces shattered
Why have you gone so far?
In my hut I light no votive candle
I offer no flowers, in sorrow, in silence, I sit out the twilight
in reverence
Andrew Fitzsimons is from Dublin and teaches in Gakushuin University in Tokyo. His translation of the complete haiku of Japanese poet Basho was published by the University of California Press in 2022. Today’s tribute poem for Gerald Dawe is a translation from the Japanese poet Yosa Buson (1716-1784)
You departed in the morning; in the evening my heart in a thousand pieces shattered
Why are you gone so far?
With you in my mind, I wander the hillsides
Why are the hills in pain?
The dandelion blooming yellow, the nazuna white
No one now to see them with
Is that the pheasant? I hear it mourn:
‘I had a friend, on the other side of the river he lived
Ghostly smoke rises and is torn, the west wind blows
so hard through the bamboo and the sedge
there’s nowhere to hide
I had a friend, on the other side of the river he lived, today
no hororo call’
You departed in the morning; in the evening my heart in a thousand pieces shattered
Why have you gone so far?
In my hut I light no votive candle
I offer no flowers, in sorrow, in silence, I sit out the twilight
in reverence
Andrew Fitzsimons is from Dublin and teaches in Gakushuin University in Tokyo. His translation of the complete haiku of Japanese poet Basho was published by the University of California Press in 2022. Today’s tribute poem for Gerald Dawe is a translation from the Japanese poet Yosa Buson (1716-1784)
