I have missed posting the poetry and art; so here it is, along with a happy song for the weekend. The inspiration for this piece of fun is my garden pond. The pond is looking good and it’s planted with a variety of native, butterfly attracting plants but unfortunately, the only wild life I have attracted so far is mosquito larva! Not exactly what I had in mind and a little worrying. This is my way of saying………….vacant des res available for immediate let to a local frog with a veracious appetite for mosquito larva.
Original (Japanese)
(Kanji)
古池や
蛙飛びこむ
水の音
(Hiragana)
ふるいけや
かはづとびこむ
みずのおと
(Romaji)
Furuike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
Translations
Literal
Fu-ru (old) i-ke (pond) ya,
ka-wa-zu (frog) to-bi-ko-mu (jumping into)
mi-zu (water) no o-to (sound)
(Fumiko Saisho)
Figurative (various)
The old pond;
A frog jumps in —
The sound of the water.
(Robert Aitken)
An ancient pond!
With a sound from the water
Of the frog as it plunges in.
(W. G. Aston)
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
(Harry Behn)
Hopping frog, hop here and be seen
Hopping frog, hop here and be seen,
I’ll not pelt you with stick or stone:
Your cap is laced and your coat is green;
Good bye, we’ll let each other alone.
Plodding toad, plod here and be looked at,
You the finger of scorn is crooked at:
But though you’re lumpish, you’re harmless too;
You won’t hurt me, and I won’t hurt you.
The long sigh of the Frog
The long sigh of the Frog
Upon a Summer's Day
Enacts intoxication
Upon the Revery --
But his receding Swell
Substantiates a Peace
That makes the Ear inordinate
For corporal release --
And a piece of nonsense to finish with
The Frog
by Hilaire Belloc
Be kind and tender to the Frog,
And do not call him names,
As "Slimy skin," or "Polly-wog,"
Or likewise "Ugly James,"
Or "Gap-a-grin," or "Toad-gone-wrong,"
Or "Bill Bandy-knees":
The Frog is justly sensitive
To epithets like these.
No animal will more repay
A treatment kind and fair;
At least so lonely people say
Who keep a frog (and, by the way,
They are extremely rare).
Alan
Aldridge is a UK artist. Born in 1943 in East London, he currently
resides in Los Angeles. His career began in 1965 when he happened to
meet the art director of Penguin Books, and began producing
illustrations for book covers. Over the next two years he took over as
art director, and introduced his own style which typified the era. In
1968 he moved to his own graphic-design firm, INK, which became closely
involved with graphic images for the Beatles and Apple Corps.
He is quoted as saying
“The Who came to see me for a job. Then Cream. Then the Stones. And then The Beatles.” Tom Dennis talks to the man John Lennon called ‘His Royal Master Of Images’
Alan
Aldridge never wanted to be an illustrator. He wanted to be a poet.
Instead, he took the job designing covers for Penguin Books, became art
director at The Sunday Times, and created record sleeves and posters for
the elete of 60s London. But it was Aldridge’s appointment as design
consultant for The Beatles’ label Apple Records and the release of his
book The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast that sealed his
reputation as one of the UK’s leading creative talents.
read more here
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/interviews/alan_aldridge
“The Who came to see me for a job. Then Cream. Then the Stones. And then The Beatles.” Tom Dennis talks to the man John Lennon called ‘His Royal Master Of Images’
Alan
Aldridge never wanted to be an illustrator. He wanted to be a poet.
Instead, he took the job designing covers for Penguin Books, became art
director at The Sunday Times, and created record sleeves and posters for
the elete of 60s London. But it was Aldridge’s appointment as design
consultant for The Beatles’ label Apple Records and the release of his
book The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast that sealed his
reputation as one of the UK’s leading creative talents.read more here
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/interviews/alan_aldridge
Perhaps this wil entertain you:
http://ecec333.multiply.com/photos/album/6/Frogkissing_Princesses_and_Some_Princesless_Frogs |
acousticeagle wrote on Aug 8, '09
poem
de la frog, not ode to the toad. A fun blog, frogs are interesting
creatures. For a small creature they have their own bulbous presence.
Here's hoping that you have froggy friends visiting and staying in your
pond hotel - and eating many a pesky mosquito.
I didn't know about Aldridge so that was informative. Thanks. |
brendainmad wrote on Aug 8, '09
Reminds
me of the famous Kermit. I sure hope someone lends you a frog for your
pond. Mosquitoes are no fun - at least I don't know anyone who has them
as pets.
|
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starfishred wrote on Aug 8, '09
Loretta how delightful a wonderful blog with a wonderfl theme thanks
|
forgetmenot525 said
 An old silent pond...A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again. (Harry Behn) 
Nicely
done Loretta. I think I like Harry Behn's translation best. Very much
reminds me of the different translations that I had to wade through
when I did a blog on Omar Khayyam, I finally just went with Burton and
stayed with him. Translation is difficult enough, but poetry and song
both offer such a challenge.
My favorite frog quotation: “Time's fun when you're having flies.” ~ Kermit the Frog |
I
adore frogs. There are so many over here where I live - from little
ones the size of a penny (they may get bigger) to huge bullfrogs 6
inches long. The fanciful illustrations are so nice and I like the
poetry, although it shows the difficulty of translating poems from one
language to another and maintain the beauty of the original work. The
three translations are very interesting.
|
greenwytch wrote on Aug 7, '09
BRAVA! very, very nicely done, loretta. i would offer to sing you a song but i have a frog in my throat.
; D |
Great! Thanks for sharing the information.
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