How Alive are Beasts, are Men!

Woodsmen

1.
climbing
toward the mountain forest
to build flames
inside this living self,
this buoyant mind
2.
toward this hillside forest
I climb,
treading the snow,
shining, frozen hard
3.
these men and women
on their way
to fell oak
growing toward this light
under this sky
4.
groups of men
groups of women
felling
these trees
under this broad sky
5.
cutting wood
in bright daylight,
they sang the erotic songs
of men
6.
one last flash
of that ax,
and slow the swirl of air
from that huge tree
in its fall
7.
clouds
above the mountain,
these woodsmen
wielding axes
and their eyes aglow!
8.
all these breathing men
wielding axes
in this world of nature
in order
to live!
9.
by the man
wielding his axe
against wood,
the other sang
of the woman he took in bed
10.
ruddy,
all these faces
of men at work
hearing bird song,
listening to mountain streams!
11.
that woman
walking over snow
and singing,
a baby on her back
and the day's rice balls
12.
fire
on the snow
slowly flaring,
that baby began
to suck those breasts
13.
far
from the shining metropolis
have I come to see
how enfeebled
my mind is?
14.
the sadness I felt
approaching
the cedar
and finding
red resin oozing from its skin
15.
a long long way
have I come,
my mind in sorrow
as I draw near
the cedar's red oil
16.
eyes
on this shining snow
in the distance,
my stream of urine
over the saw dust and beyond
17.
on Zao's
mountainside
deep in the north,
how alive
are beasts, are men!

Tanka Sequence: Mokichi Saito from his book Shakko (Red Lights)
Painting: Unknown