Sunset, Awareness, and a Curtain

February 20th

It's sad to draw a curtain after sunset.
So I closed it while there was still light left.

At nightfall, I am afraid to be aware that you won't come to see me today.
I don't want to see the sunset because it would break my heart.
If I don't see it,  I might be able to fool myself.
If I don't see ... if I don't see...
You might be coming to see me.

The windows of buildings were bright with artificial lights.
The sky were turning pitch black absorbing thousands of thought.
I am in a small room, dying into the darkness.
May I hang my faint hope on tomorrow?
With tomorrow, you will come.

I called MAMA
I want to eat meat 'n potato, miso soup and rice.
I may be a little late, but I'll be there.

MAMA came.
Meat 'n potato, sukiyaki, scrambled tofu.
Sushi.
Looks yummy.
I stuffed my heartbroken stomach with food.
I drank my disappointment away

When I got my heart broken, when I fell in love, then and now
MAMA was and is always with me.
It will be all right if you eat, she always says.
You sure will be thinking differently in 10 years, she always says.

In 10 years?

I won't be here in 10 years.
I will be dead
Before long.

It was my soul and body dying into the pitch black sky.
I was made aware of, again, tonight.
I wish I could be with you
Before my life is absorbed into the night sky.

Poem by Maria Franki

Edited and translated by J. Ujiie

©2011