苦艾　　　　　馬場駿吉　独吟半歌仙 (2015)

Wormwood  –– 18 linked verses by Shunkichi Baba

                                translated by Yuji Takahashi and Paul Zukofsky

1

爽やかに着て苦艾染（にがよもぎぞめ）の衣（きぬ）

Fresh feeling 

      Clothes       dyed with wormwood

(the Romaji and the word for word translation:  )

sawayakani /kite        nigayomogi /-zome  no    kinu

refreshed      dressed    wormwood  -dyed   of     robe

2

蝕すみし月ほのと赤らむ

The moon after eclipse

                                             (faintly reddish ...

shoku   sumishi tsuki / hono to  akaramu

eclipse  finished moon  faint ly  grow-red (-light)

3

はぐれ咲きしてゆるぎなき曼珠沙華

Unshakable

             a stray red spider lily

       Alone

hagure-zaki shite / yurugi naki  /   manjushage

astray-  bloom       unshakable      red spider lily

4

放蕩息子父死後帰宅

Prodigal Son ― 

                              coming home after Father's death

houtou   musuko  /  chichi   shigo           kitaku

prodigal son            father   after death　coming home

5

星涼し時間光を追ひ越せず

cool stars

                    Time     lags behind light

hoshi suzushi / jikan hikari wo / oikosezu

star    cool       time  light           outrun cannot

6

少女連作して画家晩夏

A painter   

                late summer

      portrait series of a girl

shōjo rensaku               / -shite   gaka     banka

girl   composition series   -doing  painter  late summer

7

ただ人の住むが古城を守る術（すべ）

simply 

     let one dwell in

                  the way to maintain an old castle

tada    hito-no      sumu-ga kojō-wo          mamoru   sube

        only     of person to live       to old castle  keep         a way

8

一角獣をひたすらに恋ひ

in love with the Unicorn

                                             madly

ikkakujū-wo / hitasurani koi

to Unicorn      only         love

9

八十路なほリルケ詩集を手放さず

still reading Rilke 

               in her eighties

yasoji    nao / Rilke shishū-wo / tebanasazu

eighties  yet    Rilke to poetry     always at hand

10

古書店主（あるじ）代替りして

A secondhand bookshop   

                  the second generation keeper

kotensyu                    aruji   / daigawari-shite

secondhand bookshop  master  generation change

11

絶滅を危惧されしゆゑ檻暮し

confined in a cage

                                    an endangered species

zetsumetsu-wo / kigusare-shi   yue          / ori   -gurashi

to extinction      apprehension  because of  cage  living

12

誰にも明日のこと知り難く

for anyone

       hard to know about tomorrow

dare-nimo asu-no        / koto     shiri   -gataku

to anyone  of tomorrow matter  know   hard to

13

友逝きて舗道も荒野冬の月

Friend gone

                          deserted street

                                                                             the winter moon

tomo   yuki-te       /  hodō-mo       kōya  /  fuyu-no   tsuki

friend  passed away  paved road   desert    of winter moon

14

戯画の獣に冬眠ありや

Frolicking Animals in the picture scroll

                      do they  hibernate                         Ever?

giga-no          kemono-ni / tōmin            ari-ya

of caricature  to beast       hibernation   be  ?

15

遙かなり前足が手となりたる日

One day long ago

       paws turned to hands

haruka-nari        /    maeashi-ga te-to / narishi    hi

distant have been    paws          hands  become  day

16

夢の余白に瀬音がかすか

In margins of a dream

           murmuring of a stream

yume-no yohaku-ni / se-oto-ga        kasuka

of dream at margin   stream sound  faint

17

一瞬も永遠のうち飛花落花

A moment          of Eternity

       Scattered blossoms

isshun      -mo    /  ei-en-no-uchi    / hika                  -rakka

a moment also       inside Eternity   scattered flower   falling flower

18

時空の糸を織り成して春

Weaving the threads of Space-Time

                        Now 

                                        in  Spring

jikū-no            ito-wo  /  ori      -nashite   haru

of time-space   thread     weave   make    Spring