A Longhouse Birdhouse: KAZUKO SHIRAISHI ~
Summer Time — The Full Moon
Four Days After July 27th
my mother silently went to heaven four days ago
and tonight is the full moon
my mother quietly completed her work
the last penance called living
when she breathed in and exhaled as though reaching
as far back as to the Inca Empire
the thin river of her life
trembled like a thread
snow everything is fine
she is happier than the moon she does not have to wander about
among the dark clouds
she does not have to shine serenely
and slowly leave
she has obtained the permanence
of her existence by not existing ah
I forgot to say, thank you because your leaving
this world was too soon and too quiet a sigh
what is called permanence is transient
because it only exists inside me
in this finite inside
infinity that is a permanence is now
floating
ah full moon
please shine
on my beloved my mother
please flutter
like a spring breeze
quietly over the repose of her soul
like
drops of light
——————————
Kazuko Shiraishi
MY FLOATING MOTHER, CITY
New Directions 2009
translated from the Japanese by
Yumiko Isumura & Samuel Grolmes
