Haiku by Kirby Record at AIU, Japan (5)

 

Professor Kirby Record teaches as director of English for Academic Purposes at Akita International University (AIU) (国際教養大学) in Akita.

He also writes haiku. He is a fellow haiku poet of mine.

 

Professor Kirby Record kindly contributed to me one of his poetry works, whose title is ‘From Leaf to Leaf: Haiku and Other short poems from Malaysia.’

First of all, he takes up his favorite phrase by William Blake:

“To see the world in a grain of sand”

William Blake

Secondly, he quotes his favorite words by Dogen.

What dreamwalkers men become,

Awakened, I hear the one true thing—

Black rain on the roof of Fukakusa Temple.

Dogen

 

Then he continues his haiku and other short poems from Malaysia.

 

all night long

 a single drop of rain

from leaf to leaf

 

よもすがら雨滴一粒葉から葉へ

 

 

coconut crashes

from its dark silhouette

into moonlight

 

ココナッツ割れて影絵が月光に

 

 

bamboos lean

in the wind’s direction

wet with rain

 

雨にぬれ竹傾くや風向きに

 

 

summer afternoon:

evening begins edging

out of the forest

 

夏の午後森が縁取る夕べかな

 

 

under yellow skies

very yellow parasols,

and rustling dresses

 

黄色い空とパラソルさらさらのドレス

 

face cool and pale:

moonlight is trailing after

her black silhouette

 

涼しそうな淡い顔：

月光の彼女の影絵追いにけり 

 

slow rain patters

on the patio orchids

of green branches

 

庭のらんパラパラと雨降りにけり

 

 

severed orchids stems—

she vows revenge on every

snail of the night

 

ランの茎が切断されるー

カタツムリ彼女の誓うリベンジや

 

 

waking to a storm

that shatters a closed window

in my dream of you

 

閉じた窓嵐に目覚む君の夢

 

upon her face and hair,

through the dark wooden shutters,

cool april moonlight

 

暗い木の雨戸からー

四月の月光が彼女の顔と髪に

 

 

spider web   between my eyes   and moonlight

 

目と月光あいだに見える蜘蛛の巣や

 

 

waking   to morning cobwebs   on my face

 

朝目覚む蜘蛛の巣顔にかかれけり

 

 

after the rain stops

lightning-flashes still lightup

raindrops here and there

 

雨上がり稲妻続く雨滴かな

 

 

a bird falls   the blue of the sky   on its wings

 

鳥一羽青空からの急降下

 

the crimson orchids

i’ve taken you here to see

dried up since morning

 

乾きし日共に来たるやランの花

 

dewy window pane

all the milky day a boy

sits watching the rain

 

乳の日や窓辺で雨見る男の子

 

candle light

mayflies, and big ants march in:

monsoon rain

 

季節風に伴う雨：

カゲロウと大アリ進むろうそくや

 

 

each fresh drop of rain

ripples a banana frond

to its very stalk

 

バナナの葉茎まで揺らす雨滴かな

 

 

orchid, stem and leaf

upright in a pot beneath

the Milky Way

 

天の川茎と葉が立つ鉢のラン

 

 

how different it sounds—

from one spot to another—

raindrops   on the roof

 

聞く箇所で音の異なる屋根の雨

 

 

 a month of rain

i only hear the pauses

between the drops

 

ひと月や雨滴の休止耳にせり

 

 

 

I sincerely hope that you have appreciated haiku by Kirby Record from Malaysia with my Japanese translations.

The next posting ‘Scots haiku by John McDonald (Part 4) ‘ appears on October 16.

― Hidenori Hiruta