Remembering a Poem… February 26, 2014

This is my “Starry Starry Night,” originally written in Japanese in December 1993. I was startled by knowing that it was 20 years ago!

“Vincent” or “Starry Starry Night”
by Fumie Thorpe

Orion and Canis Major dominated the view outside the window.
When I skimmed along the horizon; I thought I saw,
I thought I caught the twinkle of Canopus [1]
on the eastbound toll highway many years ago.

 

The memory continues to embrace me, but
here I am on this northern land where
Big Dipper clears the Lake effortlessly.
Canopus has no chance to come into my sight.

 

When the twilight fades into the darkness of the night,
Northern Cross emerges to stand firmly in the western sky.
The vigorous flow of Milky Way surrounds it, then
gently streams through the Autumn constellations in the southern sky.

 

If I couldn’t find any hope in this Starry Starry Night,
perhaps I wouldn’t be able to carry on.
Just like the moment when
you lost yourself in that Starry Starry Night. [2]

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[1] The alpha star of Carina, Canopus is the second brightest star in the heaven. It was called “the Star of the Old Man” in ancient China, and was believed to grant a long life to those who could glimpse it from the latitude around 35°N, where it rises only a few degrees above the horizon that makes it very difficult to be seen.

[2] If you’d like to see an insight of this poem, go to my blog to read my short essay “Starry Starry Night” from our February 2013 Newsletter.