Preface
When I say “anniversary,” what comes to mind?
Maybe it’s a wedding anniversary. Maybe, it’s a dear friend’s birthday. Or maybe, it’s the anniversary of the day your loved one died.
The different ways humans understand and categorize time are highly arbitrary, if you think about it. Some of us follow the cycle of the moon, and others follow the cycle of the sun. For some people, their daily clock starts at midnight, and for others, their clock starts ticking at sunrise. Some nations follow daylight savings, and others don’t. And for some cultures, the flow of time is itself nonlinear.
Most of us generally sort time into increments like days, months, and years that repeat endlessly, but the way we do so differs depending on our language, culture, and location. What if your “year” was thirty days long instead of three hundred and sixty-five? How many birthdays would you have had until now? How “old” would you be?
Because the way we understand time is so arbitrary, we depend on anniversaries to keep us grounded. We hold on to birthdays, death days, wedding days, days of historical events, and so on because we’d get lost in the flow of time otherwise. Anniversaries are thus incredibly important to our survival and our sanity.
This book is a compilation of poems I’ve written this year to commemorate anniversaries of all kinds, starting from when I first began to blog. It’s good to wrap up the year by looking back, but it’s also important that we use the final moments of 2019 to think about the relation of time to ourselves, the things we care about, and the people whom we love.
So, what did 2019 mean to you?
What anniversaries did you celebrate?
Another Year Has Gone…
August 3 (◯◯’s Birthday)
Over the mountains and under the sea,
A thunderous world stares back at me;
Threads of time slip by unnoticed,
And pass through my fingers to yours.
Today, you are seventeen,
A beautiful soul just beginning to dream;
But what now, what next,
Who is it you’ll become?
Because the life you live has only just begun.
With intent you look ahead,
Searching with unease and dread;
The glowing horizon remains ever impartial
And what there lies in wait?
But whispering gently in your ear,
The autumn wind tries to ease your fear:
On this day of endless dawn,
The sun will rise again.
The sun will rise, and we’ll see what happens then.
The trials that come may give you pause,
You may feel despair completely without cause;
But on such days you must remember:
You are not alone.
No matter what it is you face,
No matter what dreams you choose to chase,
Those who love you will be here by your side.
And this too, please don’t forget —
So little time has passed since then,
But I’m so glad we met.
Seventy-Four to One
August 6 (Atomic Bombing on Hiroshima)
The ocean breeze flows easily,
I close my eyes to try to see
The branches of the tree of time
Still reaching out to you and me.
I take them in my hands and sigh,
You look away and start to cry;
“We’ll be okay,” I try to say
But to you I could never lie.
The world folds in like a paper crane,
A freeway collapses into a single lane –
Seventy-four years condense to one day
And the fires are still burning in the autumn rain.
A jam-packed calendar of tragedy –
This is no longer inhumanity!
What have we done, what have we learned?
Just killing ourselves in plain insanity.
Hundreds of thousands swamp the river of death,
Worlds torn apart by a species’ breath –
Nothing has changed, if anything, it’s worse!
Yet we still try to live – only ignorant and cursed.
We’ll go again to such extremes,
You’ve seen it in prophetic dreams;
Having locked our memories in chests full of blood,
We can no longer hear our own children’s screams.
Seventy-four years and I still can’t see
The peaceful life you begged from me;
Longer and longer the branches grow,
As we lose sight of what once could be.
許してください
August 7 (Week of Atomic Bombings)
As thick gray petals rained down from the skies,
I begged of you to close your eyes –
But we both knew we could not unsee
The flames that would soon set us free.
“I will not forget you to the end of my days;
I will not rest until we have changed our ways;
What happened to you will not happen twice,
For such tragedy is really worth no price.”
Forgive me.
Even to the dying, I can do nothing but lie.
All of the souls now wandering at night
Reach out their hands to the dying of the light;
I make as if to hurl them a safety line –
Knowing they will never again see the sun shine.
“A moment of silence, we will hold for the dead,
To honor the blood and tears that they shed;
And we will do more, I promise to you:
The laws will change, and our hearts will too.”
Forgive me.
Even to the dead, I can do nothing but lie.
Making our livings manufacturing death
Selling off ways to silence one’s breath
Forgetting the promises we once cared to make
Failing to learn from our worldwide mistake.
Pointing fingers, as if that matters now
Debating ethics, as if history will change somehow
Putting up fronts of sincerity and sadness
Spray painting over our internal madness.
Forgive me.
I should not be alive…
For so many of the living can do nothing but lie.
Even
August 8 (Week of Atomic Bombings)
Even when the last leaf falls from the tree,
Even when the last creature drowns in the sea,
I will take you by the hand and say,
“I’m glad I am alive today.”
There’s so much that we do not know,
So much the gods have yet to show,
But if our time here must now end,
I’ll go freely, so that our world can mend.
Our era was brief, but brief is just a word;
All I see now are the smoking feathers of a bird.
It’s trying to rise, but only spreading the flames,
Killing itself with its ignorant aims.
Even at the flash of a nuclear bomb,
Even at the end of the final calm,
I will throw out both my arms and say,
“I still believe in peace today.”
To what we have done, no thing can compare,
And we continue to do it on a childish dare,
As if life and balance are toys to be played,
Then tossed in the trash once we move up a grade.
Beautiful creatures now incapable of love,
We’ve chased away our single white dove.
It returns despite abuse to fly over our heads –
But by the end of the day, we have torn it to shreds.
Even as an assault rifle lets loose its roar,
Even as the schoolchildren dive to the floor,
I will close my eyes and say,
“I will not give up hope today.”
A Single Star-Filled Sky
August 9 (Atomic Bombing on Nagasaki)
As the darkness sets in I gaze up at the sky,
Wishing I had the ability to fly –
But I don’t even know where it is that you are,
So where would I head, for how long and how far?
The light is fading, and without you I’m stuck here,
But strangely tonight this produces no fear;
Just counting the bombs like I would count passing cars,
Knowing that you and I are now seeing the same stars.
On the other side of the horizon line,
You live in a world that’s no better than mine,
Full of clumsy creatures who act without thinking,
Who commit acts of destruction without even blinking.
They say that two minuses are supposed to make a plus,
So should we let two countries war without making a fuss?
I love you all, but it’s beyond my control –
Humanity is determined to rip apart my soul.
Dozens of years have come and gone,
And here we are at the edge of dawn,
Repeating ourselves like a song on replay,
Crawling desperately toward the end of the day.
The ground cracks open beneath my feet,
You wrap your child in a bloodstained sheet,
They whisper “I’m sorry” and pretend to care,
While celebrating nothing but death and despair.
Gazing at the same sea of stars, you and I,
We wonder how quickly our time will fly,
Praying we’ll live long enough to see
A world where love will be finally set free.
But tonight I understand that it’s only a dream –
One we can’t reach, one still too extreme.
I hoped we would meet in the future some day –
But tonight I am dying, so alone we will stay.
黙祷
August 10 (Week of Atomic Bombings)
As the time approaches I close my eyes;
The world fills with our empty sighs;
I want to pray, but the words won’t come –
And deep inside, my heart is numb.
How can I go on living?
For all those who were there, I cried –
For those who lived, and those who died;
But the rain today refuses to fall,
And all I feel is incredibly small.
It’s not the time that has dried my tears –
Though the days have quickly turned into years;
It’s the incredible failure of humanity to move,
To learn from the past and force itself to improve.
I don’t know how much longer here I can stay,
From this silent prayer to the end of the day;
This legacy is too much of a burden to bear,
Made worse by the refusal of thousands to care.
Our history is tangible in this moment of time,
In all of its glories and its war-filled crime,
And as it cements into our future and past,
I pray for the dead and for those who still last.
On the Edge of Another World
August 14 (◯◯’s Birthday)
Waiting in the shadows for a new world to be born,
We look back at the promises we’d once sworn;
Still holding the thoughts that we chose then to confide,
We watch the years pass and grow older side-by-side.
The memories we shared, the dreams we chased,
And all of the challenges that we each faced –
Today, on your birthday, they are tangible and strong,
As we turn towards a future where we both belong.
As the waves crawl in to a Malaysian shore,
We strain in silence for something more –
Seeking a happiness that was taken away,
Hoping that together we’ll reach it someday.
And if you must burn bridges for the life that you need,
That I will stand by you is still guaranteed –
For although human beings must live their lives alone,
Those we call “family” together face the unknown.
手紙
August 18 (◯◯’s Birthday)
Dear ◯◯、
If you are reading this, can you tell me?
If you’re alive, will you send me a sign?
Today is your birthday
Again, this year
I have passed many of your birthdays
Without you.
I will play music for you, today
Will you please listen?
From wherever you are
Whoever you are
I hope the sounds of the piano will reach you
And maybe the sound of my voice
Or yours
Are you still sick?
Are you happy?
You made me happy
When I was feeling depressed
And couldn’t name it
I wish you had someone
Who could make you happy too
All I can do now
Is play music
And remember you
How long has it been?
Every year I feel regret
Around this time
You have taught me
Not to make such regrets
Have I grown since then?
If you have returned to the stars
Or not
Do you still remember me?
It doesn’t matter so much
I’m still alive, after all
I just want you to be happy
At least today
On your birthday
Can you feel it?
Time is slowing down for you
So that you can smile again
Today
Someday.
From 〇〇
August 2019
on this eternal morning I
September 11 (9/11)
on this eternal morning I
listen to you breathe and cry
“it’s okay, it’s time now to let go…”
these whispered words are all I know
and yet…
and yet you see that I love you
because our hearts just grew and grew
together in this empty, dying world
we won’t show our flags unfurled
there’ll be no war today
blind to each other’s bodies we
shared our souls ‘till we could see
the meanings of “now you and I”
the hallowed ground where you now lie
it’s beauty, after all
fading slowly back into the light
the moon protests our global fight
“night and day both give no place…”
I’ll follow now the dream you chased
it’s precious, after all
still reaching for the sunrise I
will close your eyes and gently sigh
a tinge of burning passion felt
maybe revenge would my heart melt
and yet…
and yet you see that I love you
because our hearts just grew and grew
together in this empty, dying world
we won’t show our flags unfurled
there’ll be no war today
there’ll be no war today, I think
it’s our love after all
Last Dawn
November 5 (◯◯’s Birthday)
at the edge of eternal night,
at the end of a sparrow’s flight,
I’ll be waiting, waiting for you.
playing
chasing
talking
wading
we’re burning in the light of day,
living our lives without a say,
still struggling to find the way
but at the edge of “come what may,”
I’ll be waiting, waiting for you.
as if we could understand our own reflections
our own shadows beneath our feet
our bodies laying in the street
well they never, never saw us.
and if they never saw us,
what could we have done?
turning towards a future we cannot grasp,
putting our destinies on silent timelapse,
we chase the dreams we never had –
and when we wake up and open our eyes,
there I’ll be waiting, waiting for you.
Nocturne of a Dreamer
December 6 (◯◯’s Birthday)
sitting at the edge of dawn,
waiting for who knows how long
the first bird shares her siren song
and we –
in this intangible moment we
go off into infinity
stepping into the unknown that is our life.
as though we could have stopped them,
and made this place our own
as though we could have met them,
and bent our fates anew
we chase each dawn from night to day,
each following our own loving way –
then searching for the words to say,
words that might still change the world someday.
reaching into open arms, we gaze
at these reflections of our own blind eyes
at our opposite horizon lines
and we say, “we will not go.”
we say “this is not the end.”
because here, the sun is rising –
hear, the sun is rising –
and today
with nothing else to do
and no other path to take
we follow it into eternity.
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