A Moth
(adapted from Mitsuharu Kaneko)
No moon was seen
But moonlight flooded everywhere,
The sky like a layer of salt,
The earth too dim and quiet
That even dewdrops could be heard dropping
Onto the bed of grass from the twigs above.
Just like a fan with broken vanes,
There appeared, flapping,
A nocturnal moth swimming through the foggy sea of moonlight
In the broad sleeves of his crested gown,
Heavy with a layer of dew.
He moved his wings as if in a dream,
Showing by his course that changed continuously
His determination not to drown.
To live is to be fragile,
So is it a fault to nurture a dream?
Oh moth! What is life to you?
You¹ve been exhausted ever since you lost your cozy pupa,
You¹ve carried the weight of time upon your back
And gasped for breath
While taking a rest
After such a short journey,
Then started on another voyage
Into an unknown future.
While most of human kind are in the sleep of slaves
The earth runs on at full tilt, like a frightened thief,
With every burden on its shoulders
Looking for the chance to cast them off.
Only the few who cannot sleep so easily
Know and await the coming punishment—
The magnificent shipwreck on the promised land.
Flapping his fragile wings in clamorous
Desperation.
On each wing there appears some scales
Like the layers of powder on a lady¹s mirror.
Each scale means death.
The moth is overburdened.
As I wander along the beach around the lake,
I sense under every step I make
The softness of fallen corpses,
O dead moths, And so I know that I am nothing more
Than a tiny shadow in the moonlight night.
White Dance at Japan Society, 1976. Photo by Osamu Honda
Eiko & Koma gave a luminous excerpt of White Dance May 27-29, 2010 at Danspace Project where they have a performing history. A Moth was printed in the original program, and reprinted in the notes for REGENERATION at Danspace. The new dance Raven and the video Dancing in Water: the making of River completed REGENERATION, the first in a four year Retrospective Project. see ProjectSite.
Read Jowitt (76) on White Dance, and Jowitt (2010)
