Family Portrait
Filled with water
There’s a jar
Eating of gruel begins
Wooden spoons
Berry wine
All is supported
By a heavy table.
There’s a man
Wearing coarse cloth
Sitting
Strong arms
Fierce Beard
Eyes fixed
In a gaze
At a field still dark.
There’s a woman
Large breasts
Coiled-up hair
Hot hands
On the man’s shoulders.
There’s a child
His curved brow
Smeared with dirt
As if surprised
He turns around.
The old people
In a picture on the wall
Beside a calendar
Are gently waiting
A dog like a bear
Yawns by the door.
At a simple altar
A flame is glowing
The night is quietly
Beginning to dawn.
— Shuntaro Tanikawa, translated from Japanese by Harold Wright
