Tada Chimako / 多田 智満子 – Ⅲ
After Half a Century
Finally after half a century, a clearly observable law has been found:
In all matters, mankind proceeds
Along geometric lines
(If you put one grain of rice on the first intersection of a go board,
two grains of rice on the second, four grains of rice
on the third, and continue along these lines, what vast quantities
will you have by the time the board is covered? When
the ancient king learned the answer, how was surprised he was!)
By the time I realized what was happening I was clinging to the earth
So I would not be shaken off as it spun with ever greater speed
My hair, dyed in two parts with night and day, had come loose
(Yet meanwhile I toyed with dice in one hand)
As it turns, it is stripped page by page like a calendar pad growing thin,
A cabbage growing small, shorn of leaves before our eyes
Once, this planet had plenty of water
(But that was back in the days when all those things
That now belong to a dead language – things such as dawn,
Looks, and smiles – were still portents of things to come)
That’s right, in all matters, mankind proceeds along geometric lines
Four and a half centuries into the future
The shriveled brain that revolves
Rattling in the cranium’s hollow will probably grow still
Like the pale eye of a hurricane
But all will probably see its resolution
In those moments as the rolling dice
Tumble, turn up their black eyes
Then finally come to a halt
半世紀が過ぎて
半世紀もかかってようやく見えてきた明晰な法則がある
つまり人生においては何事も
等比級数的に進行するということ
（碁盤の一つの目に一粒の米 二つ目に二粒 三つ目に四粒
順次倍の米粒を置いてゆけば 全部でどれほど莫大な量になるか
知らされたときのあの王様のき･･････）
気がつくとわたしは振り落とされまいとして
回転を速める地球にしっかりしがみついていた
夜と昼に染め分けられた髪をふりみだして
（そのくせ片手で賽をもてあそんで）
ころがりながら日めくりのようにめくられて
みるみるやせてゆくキャベツ
かつてはこの星もたっぷり水気を含んでいた
（今では死語に属するすべてのもの たとえば あけぼの
まなざし ほほえみ が未だ微候であったころには）
さよう 何事も等比級数的に進行するのです
そしてさらに四半世紀
カラカラと音たててまわる頭蓋の中空に
収縮しきった脳髄が静止するだろう
青白い台風の眼のように
すべては結着をみるだろう 振られた賽が
ころがって 黒目をむいて
立ちどまるまでのあいだに
Finally after half a century, a clearly observable law has been found:
In all matters, mankind proceeds
Along geometric lines
(If you put one grain of rice on the first intersection of a go board,
two grains of rice on the second, four grains of rice
on the third, and continue along these lines, what vast quantities
will you have by the time the board is covered? When
the ancient king learned the answer, how was surprised he was!)
By the time I realized what was happening I was clinging to the earth
So I would not be shaken off as it spun with ever greater speed
My hair, dyed in two parts with night and day, had come loose
(Yet meanwhile I toyed with dice in one hand)
As it turns, it is stripped page by page like a calendar pad growing thin,
A cabbage growing small, shorn of leaves before our eyes
Once, this planet had plenty of water
(But that was back in the days when all those things
That now belong to a dead language – things such as dawn,
Looks, and smiles – were still portents of things to come)
That’s right, in all matters, mankind proceeds along geometric lines
Four and a half centuries into the future
The shriveled brain that revolves
Rattling in the cranium’s hollow will probably grow still
Like the pale eye of a hurricane
But all will probably see its resolution
In those moments as the rolling dice
Tumble, turn up their black eyes
Then finally come to a halt
半世紀が過ぎて
半世紀もかかってようやく見えてきた明晰な法則がある
つまり人生においては何事も
等比級数的に進行するということ
（碁盤の一つの目に一粒の米 二つ目に二粒 三つ目に四粒
順次倍の米粒を置いてゆけば 全部でどれほど莫大な量になるか
知らされたときのあの王様のき･･････）
気がつくとわたしは振り落とされまいとして
回転を速める地球にしっかりしがみついていた
夜と昼に染め分けられた髪をふりみだして
（そのくせ片手で賽をもてあそんで）
ころがりながら日めくりのようにめくられて
みるみるやせてゆくキャベツ
かつてはこの星もたっぷり水気を含んでいた
（今では死語に属するすべてのもの たとえば あけぼの
まなざし ほほえみ が未だ微候であったころには）
さよう 何事も等比級数的に進行するのです
そしてさらに四半世紀
カラカラと音たててまわる頭蓋の中空に
収縮しきった脳髄が静止するだろう
青白い台風の眼のように
すべては結着をみるだろう 振られた賽が
ころがって 黒目をむいて
立ちどまるまでのあいだに
