The Wail of Gaea


					THE WAIL OF GAEA Fujio Tachibana



	FOREWORD Arrogance and Shadow of Roses: The World of Fujio's Tanka roses are cool and valiant in winter I love the haughtiness of summer roses that blossom in shorter, more brilliant lives The above tanka poem declares an attitude toward life that refuses to accept the happiness of daily life. Each of Fujio's poems carries with it a kind of danger and distress as well as intellect and strong emotion. Such distress and danger, however, are necessary for a woman to cultivate in order to live alone and to refuse the least bit of happiness of daily life. In doing so, she refuses the normal hypocrisy of ordinary life. The superior qualitative feature of Fujio's poems is the hope to live not the cool and valiant bed of the winter rose but in the shorter, more brilliant life of the summer rose. I have never read Fujio's poems without thinking of the paintings of Henri Rousseau. Rousseau drew plentiful primary color pictures of such tropical animals as panthers or lions to contrast their faces against a tropical rain forest. In spite of such plentiful primary colors, I feel the shadow of a kind of peculiar sadness in Rousseau's paintings. I feel the same sadness in the plentiful primary colors of Fujio's tanka poems. "Tanka is the wail of my soul." Fujio states in one of her poems, and this presents the attitude of living in the arrogance of roses, refusing a life of peace and happiness. It also represents the shadow of a pure sadness as well. Widely different from the snugly united tanka poems, Fujio's tanka poems devotedly continue to pursue the arrogance of roses, and at the risk of her life, to involve a kind of danger and distress. Fujio has a natural talent to compose tanka poems. Akiko Ishimaru Professor of Japanese Literature Tokyo Keizai University				have you seen the cerulean tears seething in the eyes of the horse charging toward the sun? nichirin wo oiyuku uma no me ni tagiru aoki namida wo anata wa mitak shall I take off the heavy evening gown called Love and wrap my naked self in a shawl of mist? ai to iu omotaki doresu wo nugi sutete kiri no shôru wo rashin ni matou warm winter sunlight spreads over me like a veil of silk and calms this agitation weighing so heavily on my mind sasakururu ware no kokoro wo tsutsumu goto tôhi wa kinu no bêru wo hirogu the silver-colored peak painted on the canvas makes my eyes smart recalling the snow of Mount Kilimanjaro kanbasu no mine no shirogane me ni shimuru kirimanjaro no yuki omowasete the celadon porcelain jar that was cracked I break asunder with all my might just as burying my past days hibi no iru seiji no tsubo wa omoikiri futatsu ni waran kako sutsuru goto the moment I picked the fruit offered by the snake I came out of a dream alas, I am also a woman named Eve hebi no obiku ki no mi wo tsumu ya yume samenu ibu to iu na no môhitori no ware THE WAIL OF GAEA [A Linked Verse] "and then?" you asked me gazing at the dying fire of the candle resting on the table sorekara to anata wa tazunu takujô no ima ni mo kiyuru kyandoru mitsutsu "like the nature of passion never tiring of eating, is another virgin forest going to be cleared?" airen no hoshii mama naru saga no yoni hirakarete yuku aoki shojorin closing our faces to the clouds of hanging black grapes you and I desired a licentious affair kuroguro to taruru budô ni omo yosete midaranaru ai wo horitaru warera fumbling for each other we drowned in our passion before falling away beneath the sky of brilliant night tesaguri de motome ai tsutsu manten no hoshifuru yoru wo ochitaru warera God, who gave people leave to march off to war, also gave them leave to cut down the firewood of passion senso wo yuruseshi kami wa aiyoku no takigi kareru wo korehodo yuruseri the mountain surface was cleared exposing red clay soon to be bleached from the sunlight's lashing rays hirakarete akatsuchi sarasu yamahada wa muchi mote uteru hi ni tadare yuku standing firmly on the earth that is about to be spoiled I try to touch the creaking of time itami taru daichi fumi tsutsu ima shi ware toki no kishimi ni furen to surumo people, scanning Gaea, turn their faces away saying it has nothing to do with them hito wa mina kakawari naki to me wo somuku okasare yukeru gaia wo minagara on the barren land named Love the naked season comes round and tries to bud ai to iu fumô naru chi ni mahadaka no kisetsu wa meguri mebukan to suru can't you hear the wail of Gaea drifting, longing for the forest where the leaves rustle in the wind? kaze wataru jurin motomete uneri yuku gaia no sakebi ga kikoe wa senuka two fireflies pushed the door of darkness open and crossed the way in front of me waga mae no yami no tobira wo oshiakete hotaru futatsu ga yogirite yukeri how lonely are my tears that are sucked into the fathomless abyss of night nubatama no yoru no fukasa ni suware yuku tsukisenu ware no namida no shitatar I used to envy my sister so much she looked so beautiful under the wisteria trellis against the purple flowers fujidana no shita nite ware wa murasaki no hana ni haetaru imo wo nikumiki through the faintly lit window of the night two figures appear and merge as one for a long time ussura to hi tomoseru mado ni utsuritaru hitokage futatsu nagaku yorisou at midday in the field all kinds of flowers abound but the white lilies bloom nobly and elegantly not mixing with the other mahiru no wa momo kusa sakite aya nasedo somade kedakaki shirayuri no hana the small yellow butterfly, which is flying so low that I take it for a dandelion, looks so enervated in the winter tanpopo to migamau hodo ni hikuku mau chisaki kichô no fuyu no kutabire like a tapir I have survived by avidly eating my dream even though I knew it was an unfinished dream baku no goto yume wo hami tsutsu kishi ware ka mihatenu yume to tô ni shiri nishi wo oh, today was another long day; sitting in front of the mirror at night I throw off my mask of strength hitohi oe yoru no kagami ni mamukaete kijô ni misetaru kamen wo hazusu the crimson canna boasts brilliantly at midday of summer and laughs scornfully at me sulking in summer saki sakaru akaki kanna ga natsu mahiru natsu wo sunetaru a wo azawarau each day passes as quickly as the wink of a moment again I am left with many regrets as yet another year draws to a close mabataki no isshun no goto hibi sugite kui nomi nokoshi toshi kurento su ROSES, YOU MUST BE [A Linked Verse] clusters of all blooming roses boast petals within petals close inspection reveals the mystery of each petal's inscrutable face shinku naru bara no hanabira ikue nimo makarete aredo hitoiro narazu on a narrow lane clusters of blooming scarlet roses study me with piercing god-like eyes as if they read my soul kayoiji ni sakeru hibara wa waga kokoro misukasu gotoku ware wo iru nari roses are cool and valiant in winter I love the haughtiness of summer roses that blossom in shorter, more brilliant lives fuyu bara no ririshisa yori mo natsu bara no horobiyuku ma no ogori wo ai su last night's dream found me in the rose garden surrounded with no way out I madly scattered red roses petal after petal to the wind deguchi naki bara no sonofu ni mayoi iru yume nite ware wa hibara wo chirasu each summer goes by reminding me of how I love the strong boasting rose more than the fragile China pink that is miserable at heart yarusenaki sekichiku yori mo ogoritaru bara wo medetsutsu ichige sugi yuku yellow roses, you must be yellow forever and red roses, you must be red, red, red to the death ki no bara wa akumade ki de are hi no bara wa akumade hi de are kuchihatsuru made "knowledge is the sail thought is the wind and human beings are ships"; if this is so, I am but a boat on the ocean chishiki wa ho shisô wa kaze hito wa fune naraba taikai no kobune zo ware wa in the dead of night when I think of you the fragrance of white orchids begins to hang in the air and covers me softly sayo fukete hito wo omoeba byakuran no kaori honoka ni ware wo tsutsu meri though the salvias at the bottom of my memory grow fainter each year, their vivid vermilion color rises unexpectedly and stands before me usure yuku kioku ni sakeru sarubia no ake saezae to ima yomigaeru even though we are betrayed over and over again we want to trust people; how pitiful we human beings are uragirare uragirare temo shinjitashi hito no kokoro wa kaku kanashi kari I know not from where yet I hear the sound of honking wild ducks on this calm winter afternoon at the Tega-Marsh fuyu no hi no shizukanaru gogo no teganuma ni izuko tomo naku kamo naku kikoyu I put white lilies in the vase on the top of your desk without telling my love for you which is growing stronger year after year toshigoto ni fukamaru omoi tsugezu shite kimi ga tsukue ni shirayuri wo iku in the early spring a multitude of blooming pale purple violets cover the bosom of the Mountain Tsukuba haru asaki tsukuba no yama no futokoro ni usu murasaki no sumire mure saku when I reflect to myself "to be or not to be" in the darkness of the night the gold eyes of the black cat glare back sei ka shi ka hitori gochi iru kurayami ni kuroneko no me no kin iro ni hikaru hometown is a place we think of when we are away; the older we grow the truer this saying becomes furusato wa tôku ni arite omou mono toshi furu goto ni sono kan maseri softly breathe upon my ear lobes your sweet breaths fermenting both my soul and body yawarakaku jida ni fukikake rareshi iki ware to wagami wo hakkô sasenu when the pussy willows had just begun to swell at the river side of Shinano-Ji you kissed me for the first time on that flaring morning neko yanagi fukurami somuru shinanoji no mabayuki asa ni kuchizuke wo uku I wonder why people believe that Cinderella lived happily ever after shinderera ga totsugite nochi wa shiawase to mina omou noga fushigide naranu while burning the old letters I watch one face appear and disappear on the tongue of a flame furuki tegami takisute ni keri homura naka ukabi tewa kiyuru ichinin no kao something is about to crash in my heart just as spring starts to walk away without the sound of footsteps waga uchi ni kuzure yuku mono hitotsu ari aoto tatezu ni haru yukanto su when I close my eyes I hear the sound of the red camellias falling to the shining snow in the garden of my hometown me tsumure ba kokyo no niwa ni yuki moe te akaki tsubaki ga koboruru kikoyu I desire to surrender myself to an earnest amour just as cherry blossoms gracefully scatter to the wind at their peak of glory isagiyoku chiran ga tame ni hana wa saku oboruru ai wo shirazari ware wa with red wine I wet my thirsty throat and the more I drink the greater is my deep desire for passion kawaki taru nomido wain ni hitashi tsutsu kokoro ni fukaku airen wo horu at the bottom of the amber glass from which I drink alone I see my attachment to the memory that stagnates but can never be kaerazaru omoide ni yoi hitori tsugu kohaku no soko ni miren ga yodomu WINTER'S WOODS [A linked Verse] what an attractive trap; when I sleep for a spell you appear and tempt me into the woods utsukushiki wana yamo shirenu madoromeba nare no tachikite mori he to sasou it is winter again and in the depths of remembrance it smells of the taste of honey ikutabi no fuyu meguri kinu tsuioku no mori no okuga wa mitsu no nioi su I see the embers of love flickering in the belly of the woods where trees are covered in hoarfrost juhyô saku mori no okuga ni ima mo nao ai no moesashi yuragu ga miyuru you keep beckoning me, so I continue walking; I hear you but never, nowhere do I find you omohoezu nare no temaneku kokochi shite yukedo yukedo mo sugata wa miezu when we learned the ardor of love the two of us burned in a flaming passion burned away hi no gotoku moete shinan to omoi niki ai no shigeki wo shiri someshi koro seeing intimacy in fleeting love amoral we ran from the prison of ourselves named Loneliness karisome no koi to shiri tsutsu sabishisa to iu rôgoku wo nogareshi warera you, a boy who wished to become a bird and fly freely in the sky, became a man after all and died in winter's wood tobu tori ni naritaki shônen nare naru ni otoko to nari te mori ni shini tari it was then I felt I had known from the womb the vanity of life the emptiness of sex taiji nite arishi toki yori sei to sei no munashisa shiri shi ware to omoi ki people, who looked on your so young death as beautiful, still ask, why did he end his life? nare yo nare naze ni yukishi ka wakaki shi wo hito wa itamite utsukushi to iedo I ask myself, which is more painful, the agony of the moment when one kills one's self or the agony of a whole life lived? inochi tatsu tamayura hodono kurushimi to hitoyo no kumon to izure ka masaru the red-colored pollen that drops from the white lilies are like the broken pieces of my memory omoide no kakera to iwame shirayuri wa kurenai iro no kafun wo kobosu Poe utters, "reality is a vision, a night dream is real"; reality lies, like the rose with its brilliant but poisonous thorns utsushiyo wa yume yoru no yume koso makoto po no hakitaru bara no yônaru uso while combing my hair at midnight I think of one sorrow even more deeply embedded than it was a year ago yo no kami wo suki tsutsu omou kozo yori mo fukaku shizuka naru kanashimi hitotsu my sorrow hides as transparent as water and so deep within my soul that I fail to scoop it up into the palms of my hands sukitoru hodo ni kiwamuru kanashimi wo sukui atsumen morote no naka ni loneliness must be like this; I wake up aching with a sharp pain remembering the wound that I try valiantly to forget sekiryô towa kakunaru mono ka wasuretaki kizu no uzuku ni futo mezame tari it must be an oasis in my dream; fragmentary autumn thoughts spring endlessly from my breast waga yume no oashisu naran yobukaki ni itodo waki kuru aki no dansô the more I consider Descartes's words, "I think, therefore I am," the truer and more profound his words become ware omou yue ni ware ari nikuki made iiete myô naru dekaruto no kotoba when I look back on the path I have walked I see the regrets all lumped together and outlined in deep black furimuke ba waga dôtei ni o wo hikeru kui no ikkai kuroguro to miyu when I face a looking glass, cruel and serene, I see a deep desolate sea reflecting my inner spirit masumitaru kagami ni muke ba sabisabi to waga munasoko no umi no utsureri sinking into the murky darkness of night my body and soul melt and flow down to the bottom of consciousness shikkoku no yami ni shizumeba mi mo tama mo tokete yukunari ishiki no soko ni I see the camellia in my dream over and over yet only abstract I wonder, is the flower white or black? ima mo nao yume ni idekuru chushô no tsubaki wa shiro ka soretomo kuro ka my eyes smart at the onslaught of scarlet-colored flowers that I loathe turning from them I stand transfixed by the black dahlias me ni shimuru hana no akaki wo itou ni ya kuroki daria ni tsukareshi goto tatsu I sink myself into the darkness of the night as the stifling scent of lilies permeates the air yo no yami ni hitori suware ba kuruoshiki yuri no kaori ni tsutsumare ni keri in the scorching heat of high noon though I walk searching for one word, it seems like all poems and songs would die shi mo uta mo karuru ga hodo no hizakari wo kotonoha hitotsu hori tsutsu ayumu dizzy from the bright sun at mid-day while walking down the street I feel as if I were naked wake mo naku rashin wo sarasu kokochi shite mahiru no machi wo yuki tsutsu memai su love and hatred burn like a flame in the deepest core of my being causing me to bathe in the middle of the day mi no shin wo yaku ga gotoku ni homura datsu aizô ariya hiru no yuami su whether dream or reality I do not know – the moment I fall into sleep – yet it is so pleasant that I love this moment more than anything utsutsu tomo yume tomo tsukanu kokochi shite nemuri ni otsuru setsuna wo ai su "birth is but one step toward death"; these words that I happened to come across sound so heavy tanjo sore wa shi no ippo futo meni shi kotoba ga myô ni omotaku hibiku all the time gone by of regret, grief, and sorrow I want to wash clean away the regret, grief, sorrow in the river of Lethe yukishi hi no kui mo nageki mo kanashimi mo nabete nagasan rete no kawa he in my dream I see the adder's tongue lily its lovely head bent the flower shudders and sways in dejection and distress utsumukite sakeru katakago waga yume ni tachite yure ori setsunaki made ni while sleeping for a spell I had one heavy cluster of wisteria having weighed the flowers in the palms of my small hands madoromi no nakanite ware wa ito omoki fuji no hitofusa te ni tashikame nu while making my way home on a moon-lit night a white cat lashes across my dark path ignoring me gekkô ni terasare kaeru waga mae wo shiranu furi shite shironeko yogiru as if disclosing my secret lover the wind begins to blow upon my blazing nape ticklishly himegoto wo abaku ga gotoku kaze tachi te atsuki unaji ni kosobayuku fuku how envious I am it is a sin and when I lay myself down under the lamplight pale tears suddenly well up in my eyes hito netamu tsumibukaki mi wo hi no moto ni sukaseba aoki namida no nagaru in the midst of a pile of dead leaves a group of winter dandelions light up a dreary place kareha shiku zôki bayashi no hi damari ni hitomura ki naru fuyu no tanpopo in the garden all the flowers and trees are dead except for the hearty yellow roses fixing my soul like magic mono mina no sugareshi niwa ni ki no bara no aeka ni sakite waga tama sasou what a faded picture it is yet mother so young, so beautiful in the photograph and what shiny hair she has! iro useshi utsushie naredo urawakaki haha no migushi wa tsuyayaka ni shite on the morning of my brother's death the crows were cawing even now mother loathes the eerie cry of the crows ani no yuku asa ni nakitaru karasu no koe kikeba imada ni haha wa keno su when I was a child my aunt reared me in place of my ailing mother; now my aunt is insane and plays with the sparrows osana ware wo haha ni kawarite hagukumi shi oba wa kuruite suzume to asobu during the days when I did not afraid of death I remember the blooming camellias flushed in deep scarlet imada shi wo osore zaru hi ni sakite ishi tsubaki no hana no kurenai no iro while looking at the black dahlia I imagine that I die wishing evil to all human beings kuroki daria mitsumete oreba hito no yo wo noroite shinitaki sakkaku zo waku WINTER BUTTERFLY [A linked Verse] feeling each other out while playing cat's cradle we created a butterfly for the spring field saguriau kokoro to kokoro no ayatori ni aretaru cho wo nobe ni hanatan the butterfly's dream, while sleeping for a spell with its folded pale green wings, begin to be bathed in tears usuaoki hane wo subome te nemuri iru kochô no yume wa shigurete yukeri the butterfly, my butterfly, with torn wings is fluttering over a sea of leaves in the frozen night nemuri naki yoru no jukai wo samayoeru hane chigirare shi watashi no itechô in search of a dream the visionary butterfly flutters about before the dark glacial epoch of my sight hyoga naru kuraki kubomi wo mai yukeru hitohira no chô maboroshi no chô the butterfly falls down to the belly of the night which is amber and slimy like honey, then it wriggles and dies mitsu no goto kohaku ni numeru yo no tai ni ochite agakite cho wa shini tari leaning against the wind howling over the savanna you say, "the bird that was shot should die" utaretaru tori shinu beki to kimi wa iu sabanna wataru kaze ni motarete unfolding the petals of the rose half bloomed I am looking at the moth that is being broiled by the night light gobu zaki no bara no hanabira hodoki tsutsu hi ni aburaruru yoga wo mite iru the mellow winter sun shimmers on the lake and one sea gull flies overhead; what a solitary scene! fuyu no hi no kagero umi ni yurikamome hitotsu maeru wa tada ni kanashiki the poinsettia in my chamber refuses to turn red and smiles gleefully as though a conspiracy were afoot iro zukanu poinsechia wa takurami wo moteru ga gotoku waga heya ni emu like Gauguin and Cezanne all human beings draw the soul that has both quietness and liveliness hito wa mina sei to dô to no tama egaku toki ni sezannu toki ni gôgan I cannot get over Serina's words which I meditate on again and again: "everyone has a chance if they prepare for it" wasurare nu serina no kotoba kamishimenu chansu wa kuru junbi sareta hito ni THE WAIL OF GAEA Fujio Tachibana



					THE WAIL OF GAEA by Fujio Tachibana yinoue@uog9.uog.edu Copyright © Yukiko Inoue 2000. AHA Books Online ahabooks@mcn.org