SPARROW IN WINTER
            (from the Japanese of)
            Shinkichi Takahashi
                p. 1966; transl. Stryk & Ikemoto (1970)
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  Breastdown fluttering in the breeze,
  The sparrow's full of air holes.
  Let the winds of winter blow,
  Let them crack a wing, two,
  The sparrow doesn't care.
  
  The air streams through him, free, easy,
  Scattering feathers, bending legs.
  He hops calmly, from branch to empty branch
  In an absolutely spaceless world.
  
  I'd catch, skewer, boil you,
  But my every shot misses: you're impossible.
  All at once there's the sound
  Of breaking glass, and houses begin
  To crumple. Rising quickly,
  An atomic submarine nudges past your belly.


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