Word and Image

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

Maybe we need a bit of calm in all the Joetsu re-enactment excitement, so here is a picture of melancholic colouring showing a figure on a journey of solitude, and some words to match.  I wanted to try writing something more traditional this time and, of course, there's always a perfect image of Gackt to use.



Sadly I can only read the poetry in English translation and then paraphrase.  Hopefully the result is not too far from the original in mood - and, even if it's spurious, at least it's short!

Comments

[es-chan.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of something <3

This image is lovely, and the text fits perfectly..

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

Ah, the loss of comfort when companionship is removed - it's a sad but quite beautiful theme. It shows the true value of the relationship while it lasts, no?

This translator's poetry collection is nicely presented for a beginner like me. His collecton is good for the mechanics of the translation and for a careful explanation of the Japanese original poetry. However, as the translator is not a native English speaker perhaps, I found his final, rather than literal, translation (he kindly gives both) too unelastic and pedestrian (too "restrained" to pick up another contributor's point) to leave me satisfied. Hence my drive to paraphrase (against his literal translation to preserve proximity to the original as far as I could).

Matching the result with a Gackt image to suit was an exercise in delight!

I'm pleased that this spoke to you. Thanks for leaving your thoughts.

[lilyginnyblack.livejournal.com]

You know, I really love how much time and effort you put into your Word and Images. It really gives me a great sense of value when I read the poem and match it up with the image. This poem, while it does make me sad, like you said, it is very beautiful at the same time (and so is the image of Gackt! xD) But, anyway, thank you so much for posting and sharing this, the last line of this, "the road divorces." really stands out to me. :)

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

Thank you for such a nice comment - I feel a bit of a fraud when I'm only offering 17 syllables! There are so many posts here that have had care and attention poured into them that I'm in a state of constant admiration for pepo's skills, even if the subject matter isn't to my taste or of special interest to me.

Your remark made me think that, because typing is so commonplace and words so ubiquitous, it has become acceptable to be unthinking about the presentation of text. I try to use the presentation of the words as part of the "picture" (I mean the artistic whole).

However, I think the pleasing quality of this particular one is a bit accidental as it happens to complement the green in the layout! (ha - there's the fraudster again!)

Funny you should pick out, "the road divorces". At the timing of writing, I was thinking of this phrase quite figuratively (viz "road" as ones path in life, not necessarily for physical travel) so I looked for a picture which showed the isolating nature of Gackt's particular path in life. He must be very conscious that his way of life, and the position that it has brought, is quite unlike the conventional existences of the majority of the people who will read about him or idly finger through his CDs in a music shop. I know that this is a prosaic thought but it's what led me to choose that pleasing and un-prosaic image.

Thank you for reading and for leaving such an encouraging comment. Your appreciation is very valuable to me: I'll probably use 3 or 4 different programs to achieve the end result for my pic-poems and sometimes I do question whether the effort involved is excessive. I'm happy to be persuaded by you that it is not!

[lilyginnyblack.livejournal.com]

Good, 'cause your effort is not excessive, I find it to be very refreshing and thought provoking. And you most certainly are not a fraud, so to speak, you put way too much thought into picking the picture alone to even be considered it. Anyway, I look forward to your Word and Images, so keep up the good work! (^^)b

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I'm sure I won't give up for a while! And certainly not while there are pepo interested to see. :)