Smoke

About

Yamai no goto shikyô no kokoro waku hi nari
Meni aozora no kemuri kanashimo
Like an attack of a disease
There comes a yearning keen to view
My native fields and mountain range.
How sad the smoke fades in the blue.


Aozora ni kieyuku kemuri sabishiku mo
Kieyuku kemuri ware nishi niru ka
To smoke myself I can compare
That rises to the azure sky,
To disappear into the air,
And unlamented soon to die.


Ishi hitotsu saka wo kudaruga gotoku nimo
Ware kyô no hi ni itari tsukitaru
Alas, I’ve reached this very day,
Taking the same course as the stone
That restless goes its downward way
Along the rugged slope alone.


Ito kireshi tako no gotoku ni wakaki hi no
Kokoro karokumo tobisarishi kana
The lightsome kite hose string is snapped
Sails away athwart the sky,
So did my youthful heart once start
Upon its jocund errantry.


SMOKE (Kemuri 煙​)
Ishikawa Takuboku
English translation by H. H. Honda