About this work
A tanka imagines the writer’s pen and books remaining together until the day their owner must depart. A separately published tanka source from the former website. Its original introduction, poem, readings and signature are preserved. This English version is an editorial translation for access; the Japanese text remains available alongside it for comparison.
Parallel reading
日本語と英語で読む
Read the Japanese original and its English translation together. On smaller screens, each language follows in sequence.
日本語原文 Japanese original
吾がペンも吾が書もゐるをる寄り添ひぬ何処ぞ吾だけ旅立つ朝まで
葉山 成秋
English translation 英訳
AI-assisted English translation. The Japanese original remains authoritative.
I will not forget suffering or fury;
I entrust them to my pen, even should I perish.
My pen and my books remain here, close beside me—
where is it that I alone depart, before morning comes?
Seishu Hamano, Hayama
Original wording, author credits, notes and source materials are preserved there.