Uneducated Poem by Suki Nakamura

without words what could a man be?
if he cannot read and if he receives a letter
and he had no way of knowing what his beloved
has told him except to ask another man
beside him, what a pity
for all those years he had shamed himself
and kept it silently
he could scream but there are no words
from his mouth
he could have inherited the wisdom of his father
were it not for the cruelty of his
being illiterate
uneducated because he did not take heed
what his mother wanted him to be.

now he is alone in a wordless world
for they are all dead.