Sake Poetry:
Dassai 39
(Asahi Shuzo @Yamaguchi Pref.)

Written by Ryosuke
Translated by Nina Patrick


What a beautiful sunset
Has it been captured by the eye of another?
My form overlaps with that of the mountain I wonder – 
Have I felt such a pleasant wind before?

(How)

The town I race through on a bike
A town of many hills
Today, too, apples adorn the eaves
Students run in time

(How beautiful)

Texts burn in morning Pen, cast
Toward the brand new desk
“Now, what shall we do?” Ah
The desk itself smolders and disappears too

(Beautiful, flaming sunset)

Chimes ring, doors open
Bustle, uproar, hilarity, laughter The comfortable world A waste?
The fruits of the one who sits away from me Yellow
Gymnasium Neighboring it, a lab 

(Sunset, perhaps)

No longer able to see
The sunset’s tincture – gold

Warm
Hurt
Hurt
Hurt
Wily
Hot
Cold
Cold
Harsh
—Lucent
Cold
Harsh
Hot
Hurt
Warm
Warm
Cold
Cold
—Fading away

Times of motion and times of stillness
Simply keep going I stand on one foot and close my eyes
If I remain I will die Days, repetitions
Like controlling a kite with tattered strings using only my line of sight

(But what a beautiful sunset it was!)

Things that turn to fine particles
Us, who become dust
Without meeting
That does not mean we disappear No

Anything and everything has not changed It’s okay

What a beautiful sunset
Has it been captured by the eye of another?
My form overlaps with that of the mountain I wonder – 
Have I felt such a pleasant wind before?

Will those who live a century from now
Think that too? Whistling
Gathering unsprouted spring into a bouquet
To the eye of wherever it arrives Surely, to the eye