#‘essence’ → 己が實 ono ga mi (literally: self-seed); which I modified from 己が身 ono ga mi ‘I; myself’

[abyssus-aeterna]

己が實何と　云ふ物ぞ　元より在らぬ 唯一時に　群がれる　小粒共のみ 脆き體に　籠れたる　生きの儚さ 亂れに依りて　蝕まれ　無へと歸すべし

[Kana transliteration]

おのがみなにと　いふものぞ　もとよりあらぬ たゞひとゝきに　むらがれる　こつぶどものみ もろきからだに　こもれたる　いきのはかなさ みだれによりて　むしばまれ　むへときすべし

[Classical transliteration]

Ono ga mi nani to / ifu mono zo / moto yori aranu Tada fito-toki ni / muragareru / ko-tubu-domo nomi Moroki karada ni / komoretaru / iki no fakanasa Midare ni yorite / musibamare / mu fe to ki-su besi

[Modern transliteration]

Ono ga mi nani to / iu mono zo / moto yori aranu Tada hito-toki ni / muragareru / ko-tsubu-domo nomi Moroki karada ni / komoretaru / iki no hakanasa Midare ni yorite / mushibamare / mu he to ki-su beshi

[English translation]

Essence—no such thing ever hath existed to begin with ‘Tis naught but a temporary cluster of particles Immured within the brittle body is the ephemeron of life Devoured by entropy it shall return to nihil.

#poetry #poemoid #thoughts from the beyond #pseudo-classical japanese #classical japanese #擬古文 #古文 #文語 #古典日本語 #author’s notes below #to document my thought process #‘essence’ → 己が實 ono ga mi (literally: self-seed); which I modified from 己が身 ono ga mi ‘I; myself’ #the kanji 實 I took from 實質 jisshitsu (the modern word for ‘essence’) #‘cluster; swarm’ → 群れ mure or 群がり muragari; in the poem it appears in a verb form 群がる muragaru #‘particle’ → there’s no word for ‘atom’ or ‘molecule’ in classical japanese so I went with 小粒 ko-tsubu ‘small grain’ #(also it is kind of an inverse of 粒子 ryūshi which is a modern word for subatomic/elementary particle) #(I say reverse because the prefix ko- can be written either with 小 or 子) #生き means ‘life; vitality’ but it also sounds the same as 息 iki ‘breath’ #(unsurprisingly the ancient japanese too made a connection betwixt life & breathing) #(intially I wanted to go with 命 inochi which is a common word for ‘life’ but it had 1 too many syllable) #(so i went with 生き & in so doing the relation betwixt 生き & 息 dawned upon me) #(& I do think these words are related; although I might be proven wrong) #(I guess me being giddy that I stumbled upon this connection is me re-enacting the monkey brain pattern recognition thing) #‘entropy’ → another non-existent word in classical japanese; substituted that for 亂れ midare ‘disorder; disarray’ #蝕む mushibamu has an additional meaning of ‘being eaten by worms or maggots’ #(蟲 mushi basically means any kind of insect; worm; &c.)