POETRY IN LOCKDOWN:4

Here is another Japanese poem from the same anthology as no. 3, but a very different proposition. While Shuntaro's Travel 1 is relatively simple and direct, this one by Anzai Hitoshi looks at first sight head-scratchingly oblique.

I like the idea of the gods playing football with the world until they hear the call of duty — something that could have happened on Mount Olympus as well as around Mount Fuji. But what is the relationship between the title and the rest of the poem? Who is the bridegroom god? And who made the unexpected cry in the house 'like a baby's first tirade'? Enigmas have their pleasures but in the end this one is possible to work out even with no knowledge of Japanese mythology.

The Nightingale
by Anzai Hitoshi

The gods stopped playing football
And went to arm for war.

The bridegroom god picked up one ball
not wanted any more,
The bridegroom god picked up one ball
Like some world cast aside
And with it tucked beneath his arm
He slid away to hide
In a house new-built with sacred wood
With sweet white wood new-made,
Whence suddenly a crying came
Like a baby’s first tirade:
And a plum in the clear cold light of dawn
Thumped down in the bamboo-shade