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Poetry

I am I

By Tanikawa Shuntaro
Translated from Japanese by Peter Constantine

I know who I am
Now I am here
I might disappear at any moment
But even if I do I am still I
The truth is that not being I would be fine too

I am to some extent a blade of grass
Perhaps to some extent a fish
A dully gleaming crystal too
Whose name I do not know
And of course I am mostly you
          
Because even after being forgotten I cannot fade away
I am a repeating melody
Hesitating, I am a faint wave-particle that came
From light years away on the beat of your heart.

I know who I am
And so I also know who you are
Though I might not know your name
Though there might not be a birth certificate
I am somehow expanding into you

The joy of being drenched by rain
The yearning for a starry sky
I laugh out loud at a flat joke
And beyond the I-am-I tautology
I am I 

English

I know who I am
Now I am here
I might disappear at any moment
But even if I do I am still I
The truth is that not being I would be fine too

I am to some extent a blade of grass
Perhaps to some extent a fish
A dully gleaming crystal too
Whose name I do not know
And of course I am mostly you
          
Because even after being forgotten I cannot fade away
I am a repeating melody
Hesitating, I am a faint wave-particle that came
From light years away on the beat of your heart.

I know who I am
And so I also know who you are
Though I might not know your name
Though there might not be a birth certificate
I am somehow expanding into you

The joy of being drenched by rain
The yearning for a starry sky
I laugh out loud at a flat joke
And beyond the I-am-I tautology
I am I 

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