A guest blog by Tilak Bhattacharjee on his musings with Japanese literature.
青いお空のそこふかく、
海の小石のそのように
夜がくるまでしずんでる、
昼のお星はめにみえぬ。
見えぬけれどもあるんだよ、
見えぬものでもあるんだよ。
ちってすがれたたんぽぽの、
かわらのすきに、だァまって、
春のくるまでかくれてる、
つよいその根はめにみえぬ。
見えぬけれどもあるんだよ、
見えぬものでもあるんだよ
The above is a poem from my favourite Japanese poet by name is Kaneko Misizu. She was born in April 11, 1903 in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan. In a very short life of only 26 years, she wrote about 500 poems, all of which were very thought provoking. In this article I shall present to you one of her poem, called“星とたんぽぽ” which translates as “Star and Dandelion” (The flower shown in the picture below).
In this poem the poet tells that, “In the depths of the blue sky, similar to small rock which lies in the bosom of sea-bed, the stars are submerged till night arrives. The stars although present are not seen in the afternoon sky. There are things which we cannot see but are present, there are things which cannot be seen but are present.
The withered Dandelion flower, which stays silently in between the roof tiles, is hidden till the spring arrives. The strong root of the flower beneath was not seen, there are things which we cannot see but are present, there are things which cannot be seen but are present.”
The poem makes us to think about the existence of things which cannot be seen but are still present. Because we did not see it does not mean it does not exist, it exists, just we have to know how to see it, which is the central theme of the poem.
textonym 