Don’t wait to be won by this world
Make your own world
with that tinkle of your eyes and ardent smile,
Make your own world
with your flickering pride and implacable shine,
For none can be another you.
Be that whiff of the wind in a wistful summer
Be that rustle of water on the quiet mountain
Be the relentless river that marches on to a rowdy
ocean
Raise your soul to be unabashed
For none can be another you.
Be the one who brightens the dark,
Be the one who enlivens the dead.
Be the one to cross the fear,
Be the one to break the silence.
For none can be another you.
Be bold, be enchanting
Be brave, be unwavering
Be the one you got to be,
For none can be another you.
Really nice.
ReplyDeleteGigi, in the last week of this year's April, the poet Arthur Binard - born in the US and living in Japan since the early 1990's - had visited Bhopal for 2 days, and Eklavya (last year we had published the Hindi translation of his Japanese poem collection 'Sagashiteimasu (I am searching)' as 'Main Dhoondh Raha Hoon', based on a few artifacts preserved in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum) had taken this opportunity to host him for a joint cultural programme one evening. Arthur had worn a leather belt designed by a friend with something etched on it in Japanese. Upon inquiring he had told me it was actually a quote from a famous Japanese poem named "Ame ni mo makezu (Be not Defeated by the Rain)", written by Kenji Miyazawa. Later I had searched it out thanks to the Internet - it is a heart-touching piece of writing. Tonight this beautiful poem of yours has reminded me of "Ame ni mo makezu" after all these months. Hence am copying and pasting its English translation for you to read here, as retrieved from Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete"not losing to the rain
not losing to the wind
not losing to the snow nor to summer's heat
with a strong body
not fettered by desire
by no means offending anyone
always quietly smiling
every day four bowls of brown rice
miso and some vegetables to eat
in everything
count yourself last and put others before you
watching and listening, and understanding
and never forgetting
in the shade of the woods of the pines of the fields
being in a little thatched hut
if there is a sick child to the east
going and nursing over them
if there is a tired mother to the west
going and shouldering her sheaf of rice
if there is someone near death to the south
going and saying there's no need to be afraid
if there is a quarrel or a lawsuit to the north
telling them to leave off with such waste
when there's drought, shedding tears of sympathy
when the summer's cold, wandering upset
called a nobody by everyone
without being praised
without being blamed
such a person
I want to become"
Those last five lines appeal to me the most.
Hope you will like going through it. Thanks so much.
By the way, is that accompanying photograph showing you?