Poem-A-Day: Tanka by Sadakichi Hartmann

March 8, 2014 Tanka by Sadakichi Hartmann    I.    Winter? Spring? Who knows?  White buds from the plumtrees wing  And mingle with the snows.  No blue skies these flowers bring,  Yet their fragrance augurs Spring.    II.    Oh, were the white waves,  Far on the glimmering sea  That the moonshine laves,  Dream flowers drifting to me,--  I would cull them, love, for thee.    III.    Moon, somnolent, white,  Mirrored in a waveless sea,  What fickle mood of night  Urged thee from heaven to flee  And live in the dawnlit sea?    IV.    Like mist on the leas,  Fall gently, oh rain of Spring  On the orange trees  That to Ume's casement cling--  Perchance, she'll hear the love-bird sing.    V.    Though love has grown cold  The woods are bright with flowers,  Why not as of old  Go to the wildwood bowers  And dream of--bygone hours!    VI.    Tell, what name beseems  These vain and wandering days!  Like the bark of dreams  That from souls at daybreak strays  They are lost on trackless ways.     Today's poem is in the public domain. About This Poem  "Tanka" was first published in Hartmann's collection of poetry Drifting Flowers of the Sea and Other Poems (1904). A note published with this poem states, "The Tanka (short poem) is the most popular and characteristic of the various forms of Japanese poetry. It consists of five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables--31 syllables in all. The addition of the rhyme is original with the author." Poetry by Hartmann Drifting Flowers of the Sea and Other Poems (Nabu Press, 2010)     Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the Poem-A-Day Archive.     Sadakichi Hartmann was born in Nagasaki in 1867 and became an American citizen in 1894. An important early participant in Modernism, Hartmann wrote some of the earliest English language haiku. He died in Florida in 1944. Related Poems Person of the Playful Star: Tanka [there is a hole at]  by Tada Chimako     Tanka Diary [Awakened too early on Saturday morning] by Harryette Mullen The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter by Ezra Pound  __________________________ Love reading Poem-A-Day? Help support it today.     Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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