Sisters

May 8th


I wanted to see
Something moving.
I opened the curtains.


Good.
I saw clouds in the blue sky,
A square cloud like a pencil case,
With a rubber eraser alongside.
Buddy-buddy clouds


Sis Kimi is cleaning
Mopping
Doing dishes
Looking inside the fridge


Smell of miso soup
A morning with steam
It has been a long time since I have.
My sister is like my mother.


Nagging sometimes
Caring always
She scratches my back for me.


Shishitake mushroom rice again
Fragrant
Like truffle.
Wild vegetables
Miso soup with celery and bracken fern.


Contented with the breakfast.
Priceless
Gochisosama, thank you for the delicious meal.


I looked up at the blue sky again.
The pencil case cloud there was
Is no more nowhere.
The rubber eraser next to it
Has also been long gone.


Changing their aspect
Clouds move
With wind and
Vanish in silence.


Glorious as well as
Tremulous
Transient
Evanescing


Sisters alone together in the room
Older
Younger


I wish
We could get older
Together,
Make many trips together to hot springs.


Azabu Juban mall
My sister found her legs around.
She went out for shopping
To stock up on staples
For me until next time she comes.


Dinner
Chicken and egg rice bowl
Miso soup with clam
Fresh tomato
Ice cream was
Caramel macchiato flavored


1:00 AM
Asthma subsides.
While the cat’s away
I better go to sleep.


I opened the curtains
The blue sky was replaced with the night sky
Where the pencil case cloud
Is now?


Clouds keep moving
In the night sky
In the blue sky.


Poem by Maria Franki
Edited and translated by J.Ujiie