Sea, Land, Shadow Poem by Kazuko Shiraishi

Sea, land, shadow, Iwanuma
the tsunami tsunami came
in silence it came
in silence it left
this is Iwanuma

what I saw
what I met was
beyond those people, those endearing people's
souls the souls destination
there were no houses but a place where houses had been
at the far seashore
there was only one boat
it is a shadow
(it was a disheartened lonely boat
of ghosts with no one on board)

on this side there was no one
after the tsunami left
the boat alone remained
people left disappeared
in this world no one the boat stubbornly alone obstinately
people gather
the surviving relatives now
stand at the back gate of the ruins of a house
the house, maybe for being silent around the corner
death proudly paying no attention
like courage quite indifferently
was floating the spirits of the dead like ping-pong balls

the people, the boats completely gone with the tsunami
tonight you would not be able to sleep
that boat is coming
after the people all gone
to the country of the dead
what are you going to do
tonight you would not be able to sleep

that boat is coming
this land the tsunami controls in great force
kicking all the people the houses the lives
quite indifferently
only a little cold sign of spring
pretending not to know
begins to open cherry blossoms a little
between the mountains pretending not to be noticing

but
there was a man who was born in this land
he visited for the first time in sixty some years
the memories of
his grandfather, grandmother and childhood
might be unconsciously wishing somewhere
somewhere the spirits exist
and talk to him tenderly
I can hear
the small voices of the spirits just born
"mommy, milk"
the big sound of a wave
it is a signal from the previous life
everyone watch out
for the wave don't let your guard down
the laughing of a baby
the mother drawing the baby to her breast
why, why, what?
what is that earth tremor why the earth is sinking
bam! the wave higher than heaven comes surging

the souls ascend to heaven
mother, father, you
everyone was by the sea wave's thick walls,
swallowed
and shut in
their lives were in an instant…
no one taught me
about the waves that reach to heaven
higher than the houses and the woods
I can see
the houses and the boat packed in a box of
thick rough waves
no longer human beings

even the last souls they had
left from the bodies, and float
on the wave to pass on the sea
and ascending to heaven
I heard the souls fly
rising off the bodies that had lost life

The day after the tsunami there were some people who visited this land
already that place was a bright empty field
the boat was as though not even a soul remained
everything with different faces
leaning on the woods as though
it were a field of somewhere else
unknown travelers
appeared and were looking at
all the fields of lost rice and crops
the spirits of Iwanuma
"in Iwanuma I was born, you know
when I was little I left this land
and went to a far place and came here today"

every house was broken or came to pieces
at a barely standing small yellow house in the evening
friends of the people who were living there gathered
I could see the souls of
the people who were living there shine
it was the boat drying its body in the dark
I saw a newspaper of the early Showa spread out
there were riddles for the dead and for the living people
I could tell the souls were there
both deeply filled with love
when a little warm setting sun appeared
the nearby mountain cherry trees too
have begun to bloom as though struck

goodbye
I will come to see you again
on clouds of the deep spirits of souls
the setting sun is reflecting

Translated from the Japanese by Yumiko Tsumura