Disclaimers: Do not own the wonderful works of Fumiko Hayashi

INTERLUDE: A MOTHER’S LAMENT

The morning mist is whiter than a ship
A transparent stone of faraway tears
Stones buried in the cruel earth
Even midwinter flowers freeze, I call
The color of cold flesh
I call shrilly in the whirling wind
And walk on alone, just walk on.

Like mud at the bottom of a dirty pond
The weakness of this stomach
No one can laugh at it
I throw memories around me like a shawl
And ask why the world is empty

Human beings turn to dust
Even my stored-up breath will fade
In the midst of this rise and fall
I sing a song about loving a man
It makes a hellish sound
Joining the noise of rough breathing

There’s no one to ask
There’s no sense in waiting
Beans of this floating world pop open
Glass of this empty earth
Glass of this bright and blooming earth.