URBAN DEMOCRACY # 8     A Journal of International Debate       Una revista de debate internacional        ISSN 1617-8092


                                                                                                 -   PAGE  7 -

                  

        

 

    Where are we headed

    if we don't change things?

                                                                                          
    

                         ¿Dónde terminaremos si no cambiamos las cosas drásticamente

 

         如果我们不彻底改变事态,我们最终会在哪里


                 Wenn wir die Dinge nicht grundsätzlich ändern, wo werden wir dann landen?






      Global warming has repeatedly caused the most severe storms  -   Die globale Erwärmung hat wiederholt die schwersten Stürme verursacht  -

       全 球变暖一再引发最严重风暴  -  El calentamiento global ha provocado repetidamente las peores tormentas  -  地球温暖化は繰り返し最悪の嵐を引き起こしました


 
Para proteger el clima, la flora y la fauna de mi pequeño pueblo, poetas amigos han escrito poemas para proteger los árboles en peligro de extinción.

Algunos poemas están traducidos al inglés, alemán, chino u otro idioma.  


为了保护我们小镇的气候和动植物群,诗人朋友们写诗,呼吁保护濒临灭绝的树木。
                                                                                                                                                                            -aw



Gong Xiaohui


Ode to trees

  

   Woe unto you, people, if you don’t cherish

the splendid forest that brings about so much benefit for us.

Even if the strength of the people is growing,

just like an ant trying to shake a giant tree,  

at long last, the people will be defeated by nature.


                 

The orange trees are as brilliant as gold in Qu Yuan’s eyes.

They have a quality of independence.

Their color and grace are comparable to the fragrance of flowers.

They are admired and emulated by kind and upright men.

Gracefully, the trees are going through so many ups and downs.

Still, they are extraordinary, of natural beauty, and unrestrained.

Their collapse is like that of the jade mountain,

Their sincerity shines together with that of the sun and the moon.

 

Trees and trees are isolated from each other,

like people who were born lonely.

But their roots are intertwined with love and with hatred.

They are born free and die with dignity.

They proudly face frost and snow, without hesitation.

 

In spring, our eyes are full of your green.

In summer, you offer a cool paradise to us.

The autumn wind graces you with your golden foliage.

In winter, you moisten the earth with fallen leaves, making it fertile.

 

And humans often forget your kindness,

Cut you down for an artificial paradise.

You then play the role of savior again,

Filling our eyes with your greenness,

Which squeezes out the clouds and wipes away the poison of the heart.

You tell man about integrity; to stand like a tree:

Noble and firm, upright and heroic.

 



[1] Qu Yuan. a famous poet in ancient China, has written a poem entitled Ode to Orange Trees.

[2] OR: In summer, you hold a cool paradise in store for us

 






Hannelies Taschau


Air for Breathing

 

In Sweden, in the Delary area

where the woods reach

up to the front doors

there is a stinking gift of a

Cellulose Limited Company that drove away

the birds

Trees are dying

the lake is dead and black

The colorful chairs in the gardens

stay empty

People sit in their beautiful homes

with the windows sealed

The employer is the Limited Company

 

In Delary, daughters and sons are now taking

their parents to court because of

neglected duty of care

after the Limited Company had not responded

to inquiries

Parents, they say, have not only the duty

to feed and clothe their children

to protect them from cold and rain to

send them to school

but also, to care for

their

future, for example

air

for breathing

The lawsuit has

still to be

decided

 






Basho
Matsuo



Even the long rain of May

Has left it untouched -

This Gold Chapel

Aglow in the sombre shade.

                         tr. by Noboyuki Yuasa




Basho, by Hokusai



Wayne Pounds


Lines from Point Loma 

Point Loma, home to a number of military instillations and a military cemetery separates San Diego Bay from the Pacific.

 

dawn broken

the invisible owl

hoo-hoo-hoo-ing

 

           **

 

full summer

the tide in

my lover has black hair

 

           **

 

the Bakufu faded

Perry from the black ship

raised his window shade

 

**

 

at the banquet politicos spoke

cucumbers gleamed with pleasure

greenbacks in a row

 

         **

 

between red chaos

and blue routine

lives Thanatos

 

         **

 

fear of the Asian horde

nervous pink nails

plough bleached blonde hair

 

**

 

men in love and war

Josuke beats his gong

Tojo rages at his sock

 

         **

 

talking of tumult

we watch the manic

wrestle of the sea

 

        **

 

flash--Truman takes Los Alamos

Jewish émigrés harness the sun

nuclear baby is born

 

pika-pika . . . DON

 

        ** 

 

all that was left was 

three old jewels and the throne

the Emperor wept

 

        ** 

 

sunburst on two cities

the sun’s own descendents

charred in the radiance

 

        ** 

 

Amaterasu’s children

in her jewelled cities

danced the black dance

 

 

        **

 

国破れて kuni yaburete

山河在り sanga ari

kingdoms fall

mountains and rivers remain

 

       **





Sora



A thicket of summer grass

is all that remains

of dreams and ambitions

of ancient warrior


I caught a glimpse

of the frosty hair of Kanefusa

Wavering among

The white blossoms of unohana


                   Transl. by Noboyuki Yuasa







The High Mountains


The high mountains
         
           the wide sea -

The mountains as mountains,
   
          they will last

the sea as the sea
  
         will exist forever

An ephemeral being

is man, however -
 
         man

         in his ephemeral existence




From the Man'yōshū  萬葉集 (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves)








 



 "L'art et la révolte ne mourront qu'avec le dernier homme."
                                                            Albert Camus




"Yellow Oranges and Green Tangerines" by Zhao Lingrang (趙令穰)

Gong Xiaohui


树木颂


案:

人类啊,如果你不珍惜

为我们带来福利的辉煌的树林,

即使我们整体人类的力量加起来,

也犹如蚍蜉撼树,最终会被自然界消灭。

 

屈原眼里的橘树,黄金般辉煌,

拥有独立不移的品质,

其色彩与秀美堪比花之芳香,

其坚贞的禀赋,

多少仁人志士,竞相效仿。

气度雍容,风流跌宕,

超脱不凡,潇洒豪放,

其倒如玉山之将崩,

其至诚与日月同光。

 

树与树,彼此隔离,

犹如人生来孤独,

但其根却盘根错节,爱恨痴缠。

其生而自由,死也大气,

傲霜斗雪,绝不苟且。

春天满眼是你的绿,

夏天你为我撑起一片凉爽的桃源,

秋风送爽,你满树金黄,

又用落叶润泽大地,使之肥沃,

 

而人类常常忘记你的恩情,

为了人造的天堂将你砍伐。

你又扮演着拯救者的角色,

眼里有你的绿,

便会挤掉其中的云翳,擦掉心灵的毒。

你告诉那有气节的人,要站成一棵树。

崇高而坚贞,挺拔而豪迈。

 



Hannelies Taschau

 

LUFT ZUM ATMEN


In Schweden in der Gegend von Delary

wo die Wälder bis an die Haustüren

reichen

herrscht das stinkende Gift einer

Zellulose GmbH & Co KG die die Vögel

vertrieb

Bäume sterben ab

der See ist tot und schwarz

Die bunten Stühle in den Gärten

bleiben leer

Man sitzt im schönen Eigenheim bei

abgedichteten Fenstern

Arbeitgeber ist die GmbH & Co KG

 

In Delary klagen nun Töchter und Söhne

ihre Eltern an wegen

unterlassener Fürsorgepflicht

nachdem die GmbH & CO KG auf Anfragen

nicht reagierte

Eltern hätten nicht nur die Pflicht

ihre Kinder zu ernähren und zu kleiden

vor Kälte und Regen zu schützen zur

Schule zu schicken

sondern sich auch um Zukunft für sie

zu sorgen

etwa um Luft

zum Atmen

Über die Klage muß noch entschieden

Werden

 



Basho



Selbst der lange Regen im Mai

ließ ihn unberührt

diesen goldenen Tempel

Glühend im wehmütigen Schatten

 







Downtown Hiroshima in c. 1945 - before the bomb exploded



Wayne Pounds


Zeilen aus Point Loma

Point Loma, ort einer reihe von militäranlagen und eines militärfriedhofs, trennt die San Diego Bay vom Pazifik.

 

Morgendämmerung

die unsichtbare eule

ruft hu-hu-hu

 

           **

 

Hochsommer

die flut, schon da

meine liebste hat schwarze haare

 

           **

 

Das Bakufu verblasste

Perry vom schwarzen schiff

hat sein fensterrollo hochgezogen

 

           **

 

Beim bankett sprachen politiker

gurken glänzten vor freude

dollarscheine in langer folge

 

         **

 

zwischen rotem chaos

und blauer routine

lebt Thanatos

 

         **

 

Angst vor der asiatischen horde

nervöse rosa nägel

pflügen durch gebleichtes blondes haar

 

         **

 

Männer verliebt und im krieg

Josuke schlägt seinen Gong

Tojo ist wütend auf seine Socke

 

         **

 

von Tumult sprechend

beobachten wir das manische

ringen der see

 

        **

 

Ein blitzen--Truman erobert Los Alamos

Jüdische emigranten zähmen die Sonne

atomares baby, geborn

 

Pika-pika* . . . WUMM!

 

        **

 

alles was übrig blieb warn

drei alte juwelen und der thron

der kaiser weinte

 

        **

 

Sonnendurchbruch über zwei städten

der sonne eigenen nachkommen

zu kohle verbrannt in dem glanz

 

        **

 

Amaterasus kinder

in ihren juwelenbesetzten städten

tanzten den schwarzen tanz

 

 

        **

 

国破れて kuni yaburete

山河在り sanga ari

Königreiche fallen

Berge und flüsse bleiben

 

                              Dtsch. von AW



*  Jap.: Gleißend hell




Kimono pattern burned into skin by the heat wave of the nuclear explosion





Sora


Ein Dickicht aus Sommergras

ist alles was bleibt

von den Träumen, dem Ehrgeiz

alter Krieger


Ich erhaschte den Anblick

des frostigen Haars von Kanefusa*

das wehte zwischen

weißen Unohana Blüten



* Ein Gefolgsmann von Yoshitsune, der sich in hohem Alter noch in den Kampf stürzte



 Hokusai, Great Wave


                

democracy
as a permanent,
unfinished
process




         
                               
   




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