The vast night is now nothing more than fragrance.
This is the fourth haiku of the poem titled “Seventeen Haiku” by Argentine poet Borges, numbered with “4”.
La vasta noche
– Jorge Luis Borges
no es ahora otra cosa
que una fragancia.
These two simple nouns make me imagine various ways.
The endless night with no end in sight never lasts long. The same as sorrow or pain. Although as if it lasts forever, it disappears always like fragrance fades fast.
Adding, not only sorrow or pain but even happiness or delight might pass in a moment as well.
Then, Borges had poor eyesight and he lost the light in his last life. Possibly he described the darkness in his eyes as fragrance.
And more, this may be about a night of love that’s over already…
The vast imagination is nothing less than thanks to this haiku.
This is the haiku translated into Japanese style and the pronunciation.
茫漠たる
夜も明けむはや
香の如く
[How to pronunce]
Boubaku taru
yo mo aken haya
ka no gotoku.
The others of “Seventeen Haiku”:
Original 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Original haiku by Jorge Luis Borges (1982). La cifra. Alianza
Photo by Marko Obrvan “scenic view of sky at night”
