A grove,
A swamp,
And an azure sky:
Weighing ponderously upon one's hand
A pure-gold tortoise quietly sleeps . . .
This bright unhappy Heaven-and-Earth
He bears in pain,
And probingly sinks through one's soul . . .
The tortoise sinks in the deep azure sky.
Tr. Takomichi Ninomiya & D.J. Enright. A beautiful image that trembles on the border between clarity and mystery. Hagiwara (1886-1942) seems like a combination of German Expressionist and Buddhist, or perhaps a Buddhist maudit.
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