Chilly Dawn - Makoto Ōoka

So many times I fell cutting through the chilly morning wind
into a sea of clouds….
reindeer driven to a glacial region
walk with quiet gait in the feeble light

So many times young lives were offered up
to the legend of an ancient castle
the castle walls sucked men’s blood and turned rusty black
men called that history and adorned the walls with ivy

So many times lovers woke in sorrow
under thin wavy clouds as seasons turned
so many nights
their milk flowed in the Milky Way

Birds fell
from star to star
across the sky boundlessly spreading
only their poor hearts were shriveled

One morning a woman, barefoot, ran past
toward the landing
one morning a man, barefoot, was arrested and brought
from the landing

Only the sky was utterly clear
‘I’ll drown, I’ll be drowned’
so sang a woman
at the landing

Only her stockings, unable to speak, were
beautiful in their splendor

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Makoto Ōoka (1931 - 2017) Japan
Translated by Takako Lento
Source: Poetry Kanto