kîsik pahkihtin
acâhkosak mâtowak
nimâmaskâtîn.
ᑮᓯᐠ ᐸᐦᑭᐦᑎᐣ
ᐊᒑᐦᑯᓴᐠ ᒫᑐᐘᐠ
ᓂᒫᒪᐢᑳᑏᐣ᙮
The sky is falling
The little stars are crying
I look in wonder.
The rules of haiku are a challenge to follow in any language. Here, Solomon Ratt creates the haiku first in Cree (th-dialect), then creates a matching haiku in translation.
2 Responses
Maamaskaachi-booñ anima li haiku!
What a wonderful haiku that is!
Here is my Southern Michif adaption/translation:
Li syel pahkihtin
Toot lii zitwel maatowak
Ni-maamaskaahten.
(The sky is falling
All the stars are crying
I look in wonder)
The sensibilities of Solomon Ratt’s poem made me think of the Japanese poet Kaneko Misuzu’s “Big Catch”
(Japanese first and then my translation into English. Maybe I will try to translate it into Michif or someone can try doing the Cree??
大漁
朝焼小焼だ
大漁だ
大羽鰮の
大漁だ。
浜はまつりの
ようだけど
海のなかでは
何万の
鰮のとむらい
するだろう。
「金子みすゞ 童謡全集」（JULA 出版局）
Big Catch
At sunrise, at dawn
it’s a big catch!
A big catch of sardines!
On the beach
it’s like a festival
but in the sea,
the holding of ceremonies
for the ten thousands of dead.
Bravo, Heather, from me and from Sol!