[TRANS] Jaejoong Fanmeet Poem Recitation: Love by Shuntaro Tanikawa, translated by William I Elliott

Love by Shuntaro Tanikawa 
Translated by Kazuo Kawamura and William I Elliott 

Love is easy to say
Love is not difficult to write, either.

Love is a feeling everyone knows.
Love is to love even to the point of sadness.

Love is to want to be with you always.
Love is to want you to live forever.

Love is not just the word ‘Love’.
Love is not just a feeling, either.

Love is to remember the distant past.
Love is to believe in an invisible future.

Love is to think over and over again.
Love is to live at the risk of your life.

Original Poem:  

あい　口で言うのはかんたんだ
愛　文字で書くのもむずかしくない

あい　気持ちはだれでも知っている
愛　悲しいくらい好きになること

あい　いつでもそばにいたいこと
愛　いつまでも生きていてほしいと願うこと

あい　それは愛ということばじゃない
愛　それは気持ちだけでもない

あい　はるかな過去を忘れないこと
愛　見えない未来を信じること

あい　くりかえしくりかえし考えること
愛　いのちをかけて生きること

(谷川俊太郎「あい」、訳　川村和夫、ウィリアム・エリオット）

Shuntarō Tanikawa is a Japanese poet and translator. He is one of the most widely read and highly regarded of living Japanese poets, both in Japan and abroad.  More on Shuntaro Tanikawa (Wikipedia).  Several of his collections, including his selected works, have been translated into English, and his Floating the River in Melancholy, translated by William I. Eliott and Kazuo Kawamura, won the American Book Award in 1989. The poem was recited by Jaejoong during the Dr. Jin Fanmeeting.

Source: http://www.e-narnia.com/key045.htm
Picture credit: mjjeje’s twitter
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