蝶Butterfly
きこえることと
きこえないことの
あいだを
こわしてゆく
蝶
Butterfly moves on
collapsing
the space between
hearing and
not hearing
*
蝶は
時間のさきに
咲きこぼれている時間
Butterfly is
Time lavishly blooming
on the edge of time
*
知るということを
積めないほどに
軽い
蝶
Butterfly
so airy
unable to bear
the burden
of knowing
*
蝶は
蝶のあとを
舞う
時間
Butterfly is
Time
whirling
after her being
*
おしえにきた
のに
すべてを
わすれてしまった
蝶
Butterfly
came to foretell
yet
finds herself free
of all memory
*
蝶が
行ってしまった
蝶のかたちの
時間だけをのこして
Butterfly is
gone
leaving behind only
Time
shaped like a butterfly
*
蝶
行ってしまうこと を
つつんだ
からだ
Butterfly
that she will be gone
is sealed
in her being
雨・星・月 Rain, Star and Moon
雨が
蝶をきく
Rain
listens for a butterfly
*
蝶のために
夜あけが
やさしさを増す
For a butterfly
the day dawns
more warmly
*
蝶と はなれようとしない 星
Star unwilling to leave Butterfly
*
蝶に
見入る
月光
Butterfly
captivates
moonlight
*
うまれかけの蝶が
星にむすばれている
A butterfly about to emerge
tied to a star
*
蝶の
ゆくえを
したう
雨
Rain
longingly
trails behind
Butterfly
虹 Rainbow
虹がおよぐ
蝶がここにいたことを
Rainbow shimmers
memory of Butterfly
having been here
*
蝶のほとりに
まどろむ虹
On Butterfly’s shoreline
Rainbow slumbers
*
虹の
言えなかったこと の
蝶
What Rainbow
could not articulate
a butterfly
*
空が
虹にうまれかわるという
蝶
Sky’s
reincarnation as a rainbow
Butterfly
*
蝶による
虹の調律
Butterfly is
tuning Rainbow
*
虹が
のぼり
蝶が
しずむ
Rainbow
rises
Butterfly
alights
Mari Kashiwagi was born in Erlangen, Germany, but raised in Japan. She is a Japanese poet, art curator and writer. She won an award of the prestigious poetry magazine, Gendaishi Techo (1995). Her first collection, Music, of Days, was published in 2000. The second poetry collection, Nectar’s root as far as its Resonance reaches, came out in 2008. Excerpts from it are presented in the Poetry International Web. The third poetry collection, Butterfly (2020) is written in Japanese with an English translation by Takako Lento. Amber (2015) collects her lyrics for children's songs. She is also the author of two books on Japanese ceramic art. Her interest in both words and images, and the chemistry between different mediums, is also reflected in her active involvement with the collaborations between artists and musicians. She has been invited to read at the Struga Portry Evenings (Macedonia 2014), InterLese (Germany 2016), and The Princeton Festival (U.S.A. 2018). Her poems are translated into English, Spanish, Macedonian, Serbian, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, French, Persian, and Arabic.