toki!
I have been working on translating some japanese haiku into toki pona, in order to explore how this language and that literary genre work together. They have many essential features in common. Eventually, I'm hoping to find ways to create my own, original haiku in tp.
Here are a couple of my initial attempts. All these haiku are by Taneda Santoka (1882-1940), whose style is known for brevity, simplicity and sober clarity (despite that he lived as a drunken wandering beggar). I thought such a style would be the easiest to work with in the beginning.
I'd love to know about any thoughts, ideas and corrections you might have. I don't know if I'm stretching tp grammar a bit by using simple noun phrases the way they are used in the originals.
mi tawa kin
mi tawa kin
nena laso
分け入つても分け入つても青い山
wakeittemo wakeittemo aoi yama (original)
I go in I go in still the blue mountains (Tr. by Hiroaki Sato)
kasi li
tawa anpa
mi tawa kin
木の葉散る歩きつめる
konoha chiru aruki tsumeru (original)
Leaves are falling; / I walk and walk. (Tr. by Takashi Nonin)
waso pimeja li kalama
mi kin
wan taso
鴉啼いてわたしも一人
karasu naite watashi mo hitori (original)
A crow caws, / I too am alone. (Tr. by James Abrams)