We Lived
Together
We lived together
A single year
She was gentle, pale
Her eyes day and night dreaming dreams far beyond me
One morning in the summer of our year
A village girl was selling flowers on a bridge on the edge of town
They were so beautiful
I bought twenty sen worth and took them home with me
My wife put them in an empty goldfish bowl
And displayed them in our shop
When I returned in the evening
My wife took one look at me and smiled mysteriously
I saw a spread on our table of all kinds of fruit
And white European plates
I asked her where these things came from, and she said
"I sold the flowers which you brought today for a full two yen" ... the stars and the blue night wind
the reed blinds and the flame that despatches the soul ...
Then that winter my wife
Without the slightest suffering
Fell ill for one day, wilted, crumbled, and passed away

--- From Strong in the Rain:
Selected Poems

Kenji Miyazawa
Roger Pulvers, Translator
© 2007 Bloodaxe Books
Highgreen
Tarset
Northumberland UK
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