In Memoriam: TADA CHIMAKO

Tada Chimako, one of Japan's great poets, has died. She was a wonderful and gentle woman. Here is one of the poems I co-translated for her book Moonstone Woman, published in 1990 by Katydid Books:


To the Last Stop

Each time I wake the scenery has changed
In which direction is time flowing
Ahead and behind, rails of mercury gleam
---Where will you get off
---I'm going to the last stop
Weeds growing thick and wild I fall asleep
Coiled up in soft beams of sunlight
tail of dream in mouth
(Perhaps after all the head is not the beginning
nor the tail the end)
It seems as though I haven't yet been born
and the world is the light beyond the egg shell
An alarm clock is ringing far off
Whose morning is that
Eggs hatching all at once
grammar school games between joyous teams
As the starting gun is fired
a hearse is waiting at the school gate
Carried away in sleep
Each time I wake the scenery has changed
The air is filed with butterflies
Tumbling over they become dead leaves
scatter away leaving emptiness behind
A roaring tunnel of hollowness
---Where is the last stop
---Don't you know either

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