The Boys of Summer
On earth where many bare feet have run
We boys stretch out
We exchange embraces with no one
But we are more complete than any future
2
We boys hang down
Upon swings at the height of day
Our slight yawns
Like a ripening akebia fruit
3
Long ago, we boys left a fountain
And now go in all directions through the square
The sun which has lost its eyelids watches
The same radiant dream over and over again
4
With the soles of our feet, we kick up waves
And we leave along the muddy shore
Our arms reach further and further ahead
Perhaps toward the deep blue of the ancient sea
5
Turning the earth with our father’s bones, we spread young seeds
And cultivate summer upon cetacean memories
Each era gets its own forest
Each era gets its own graveyard
6
As if creating cairns, we stack
The corpses of cicadas caught during vacation
And with our butterfly nets over our shoulders
We depart for another, even taller summer
by Chimako Tada
from Hasukuibito (Lotophagi)
publisher: Shoshi Ringoya, Tokyo, 1980
translation: Jeffrey Angles
from Forest of Eyes: Selected Poetry of Tada Chimako
publisher: University of California Press, Berkeley, California, 2010