Yone Noguchi, ‘To a Sparrow’
Sudden ghost That danced out again from the shadow and rest, Hunter of the memory and colour of thy last life, Dost thou find the same humanity, the same dream? Consecrator of every moment, Holder of the genius for living. Thy one moment might be our ten years: Does it tempt, console and frighten thee? Ghost of nerve, If thy voice be curse, It is with all thy soul. If it be repentance, It is with all thy body. Oh, would that I could relish the same sensation as thou
What we love about this poem…
Poetry transforms a momentary experience into something more profound by way of a vivid comparison: the bird is a ghost come back to haunt. From here, the poet uses the image to meditate on a series of questions: Does the sparrow find humanity the same or different from its last encounter? Is the bird’s appearance a good sign or a bad sign for humans? And what does the bird think of all this, anyway? The language and imagery is relatively sparse and simple, but the use of older English variants such as ‘thou’ and ‘thy’ establishes the seriousness of the encounter.
About the Author
Yone Noguchi (1875-1947) was born in Japan, but published poetry in English. After graduating from university in Tokyo, he traveled widely between his home country, the United States, and Britain. Alongside his poetry, he is perhaps best remembered for encouraging American poets to write in the Japanese form of the haiku.
The similarities and differences between Japanese and Western poets was a sustained interest of his, prompting him to write in an essay:
‘It is said in the West that the poets are a race apart. The fact that our Japanese poets are not a race apart should be the very focus for a discussion of Japanese poets. While in the West the poets claim special regard and, indeed, immortality for themselves, we in Japan treat the poet as a natural phenomenon, as natural as a flower or bird.’
To read alongside…
The title of today’s newsletter is an homage to an article by the philosopher Thomas Nagel, ‘What is it like to be a bat?’
We have featured a number of newsletters in which writers wonder at the animal world: sheep, dogs, horses, and a riddle of small creatures of the air. Read them by clicking on the links below.
Mystic dog with paws of fire
The noon, a mystic dog with paws of fire, Runs through the sky in ecstasy of drouth, Licking the earth with tongue of golden flame Set in a burning mouth. It floods the forest with loud barks of light, And chases its own shadow on the plains . . . Its Master silently hath set it free Awhile from silver chains. At last, towards the cinctured end of day…
A Mysterious Figure Appears at Dusk...
We continue our celebrations of LGBT History Month (UK) with the beginning of an early short story by the iconoclastic Djuna Barnes
The air carries little creatures
The air carries little creatures over hillsides. They are so black, swarthy, dark-coated. Generous of song they journey in groups. Loudly they cry, treading the wooded headlands, sometimes the town-dwellings of the children of men. They name themselves. Ðeos lyft byreð lytle wihte ofer beorghleoþa. Þa sind blace swiþe, swearte salopade. …
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