A Rainy Season Illusion

by Mitsuko Takayasu
(translated by Toshiya Kamei)

Vermeer blue
hydrangeas in bloom
are infinitely gentle mirrors on the water surface.
A rainbow after the rain stretches
across the blue sky above me.

Even though my health wanes,
a rainbow is still a part of my landscape.
God crosses the rainbow bridge
as innocent moments flow by.

When I turn everyday clock hands
to measure long-gone landscapes,
my story, marked with a rainbow-colored tag,
becomes tinged with
many feelings I have swallowed in order to live.

A snail on a hydrangea leaf
sways as if drawing my heart.
I want to make a small rainbow out of today’s love,
put it into my coffee, and stir it.

Mitsuko Takayasu was born in 1945 in Nagano and now lives in Chiba. She started writing poetry in her twenties. She is the author of two collections of poetry Kikoetekuru shuu (1975) and Choka (1998). Translations of her poems have appeared in The Bitter Oleander, Miracle Monocle, and Visions International.