【抑留者の俳句】2 Haiku by internees 2

　橇を曳くけだものめきて声あはせ　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　古屋征雁

　『続シベリア俘虜記　抑留俳句選集』より

重さに喘ぎ、獣のような唸り声を上げながら息を合わせて橇を曳く。生きるため、生き残るために。わずかな食べものと服、一枚の毛布で零下４０℃の極寒と重労働に耐える。 収容所で詠まれた俳句には、圧倒的に捕虜、雪、凍てる、飢え、死、墓などの言葉が多い。

しかし絶望しかない収容所の中で、俳句を詠む瞬間だけはまるで息継ぎをするかのようだ。そして心を「生」へと奮い立たせる。

－－－－ー－－－－ー－－－－ー－－－－－

【Haiku by internees】2

Like animals

we drag a sled

our voices rising as one

　　　　 Furuya Seigan

　　　　　　　　　　　　 　From Chronicles of a Prisoner

of WarinSiberia,continued:Haiku of Internment

Gasping under the weight and grunting like beasts, they breath together as they pull a sled. In order to live, in order to survive, with barely enough to eat and clothe themselves in, and no more than a single blanket for the extreme cold of minus 40 degrees celsius, they managed to endure back-breaking physical labor.

In the haiku written while in the internment camp, the most frequently appearing words are prisoner, snow, frozen, starvation, death, grave, and the like. And yet, in the camp, where there was no room for anything but despair, the moment when a haiku was born must have been precious, as if for an instant their hearts could remember what it was to be alive.

　 Translation © Janine Beichman