Untitled, by Sho Nakashima

JAGAIMO NO HANA MO KYURI NO HANA MO KONO CHI SARAN TO SU

Flowers of potatoes and cucumbers

also about to depart

from this place

AOI HAYASHI MO YAGATE NAGORI NO HITO-BITO

Green forests in time

also bid farewell

to men

KO O TSUWANONO NI YUKASE HARU BARU SEIJI-BARA NI HITORI

Son joined the army

walked great distance

alone in the sagebrush

IKITE IKI SUREBA IKI SHIROSHI SHIMO SHIROSHI

Alive, as I exhale

breath is white

and frost is white

From “May Sky: There Is Always Tomorrow, An Anthology of Japanese American Concentration Camp Kaiko Haiku,” compiled, translated and prefaced by Violet Kazue de Cristoforo. (Sun & Moon Press: 288 pp., $29.95) Copyright 1997 Reprinted by permission.