Saturday, September 21, 2013

A simmering of cicadas

静けさや
岩に滲み入る
蝉の声

Shizukesa ya
Iwa ni shimiiru
Semi no koe


This pervasive silence
Enhanced yet by cicadas simmering
Into the Temple Rocks dissipating            
—Matsuo Bashô

I sat outside on the stone patio the night before last to make my examen.  There was no wind, a pervasive stillness, and — I realized with a start — a simmering of cicadas.  I felt as if I were in the midst of a gently bubbling pot, the stillness seeping into my rock hard heart, infusing it with silence, with God.

An alternate translation (mine) which preserves the breath of the original.

A piercing stillness
The rocks open their hearts to
The cicadas voice

Just breathing the word shizukesa and the exhaling sound ya is stilling. 

Bashô spent 5 years working on this poem, the first draft was written in 1689, a final version inscribed in his diary in 1694.

3 comments:

  1. How serene to make your examen under the night sky! I enjoy doing that also but the weather here is certainly not cooperating these days. Your poem is beautiful in its simplicity. Thank you for sharing.

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  2. Oh how this touched me... the poem, your presence, your prayer. Thank you.

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  3. Anonymous4:38 PM

    Yes, beautiful.

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