葬儀での幽霊

暁早 – Early Dawn
Wake up pink sky shine!
Stretch out and embrace the stars.
Touch the world with pearl.

Give me your beauty,
and bind me to the moment
lest I lose myself.

Fly away red clouds!
Do not bring a storm today.
I await Father.

Let me wear your robes!
So, I may hide from sorrow
and forget the past.

If today brings rain,
let not my tears be in vain,
nor my heart be cold.

早暁 – Dawn
I see the grand star,
the majesty in the east,
the sun arising.

Give me sunlight warm,
to melt my frozen heartache.
I so miss him now.

Father will come soon
to take me to the ancients
and lay my incense.

I hear the monks chant
up on the temple mountain
preparing the way.

If I do not go,
will my heart always be lost
and my love wander?

行列 – Procession
A stone pounds the nails,
to close the ornate coffin
and hide the dead flesh.

The monks walk with care,
that body in its wrappings,
empty and alone.

Seagulls greet the day,
but I have no joy within,
as the gong marks time.

Father bows his head,
Sister wears her Kimono,
Brother is not here.

The temple is rich
but our village is so poor
for new spirit names.

式葬 – Funeral Ceremony
The casket emptied,
the body is in flames now
burning with blue light.

The monks chant and bow
Sister falls and cries weeping
Father’s eyes are moist.

Chopsticks pick through bones
Sister and Father at once
put them in the urn.

First the toes go in
so the body is upright
and last is the skull.

The dust of ash flows,
as the village stands close by
to cover the bones.

墳墓 – Tomb
Father and the urn,
Silent, the village watches
his walking uphill.

Alone, he will place,
what is left inside the tomb.
There he cries alone.

Brother will not come,
until he leaves Tokyo,
a two day train ride.

Sister comes up next,
to lay the incense upon,
the rain speckled stone.

As she walks away,
I feel myself rising up,
At last, I am free.

Zachary’s Lament for Jane

Where are you my love?
Where is your sweet voice,
The smell of jasmine, laughter, and the tinkling of bells?

You have stood by my side,
feeling but untouchable,
warming my heart in a world gone cold.

Where are you my sweet?
What have I done?
Kept from the golden gate, afraid, sharing each other?

You were taken in your youth,
Broken by a brute,
And left to dwell with me in my living purgatory.

Where are you my dear?
Where have you gone,
A ghost of yesterday, haunting, yet so alive?

You have fallen into the abyss,
Descended into the depths of forever,
And become an eternal memory.

I will always love you.
I will never forget.
The smell of jasmine, laughter, and the tinkling of bells.

Pretence

Sunlight on a dappled pony’s flank,
In brilliant meadow running fast and free.
Mother waits with cookies on a plate,
As the boy pretends that he can’t see.

Breezes blow across the grassy plain,
A girl in cotton dancing under sky.
Mother reads within her sitting room,
As the boy pretends that he can fly.

Scattered shadows dance beneath the pine,
A rascal fallen from the highest limb.
Mother sits beside his to bed to cry,
As the boy pretends in lands of whim.

Snow white blooms assault the summer’s wind,
A girl in sorrow standing by in fear.
Mother sobs beside the quiet grave,
As the boy pretends that he can’t hear.

Ripples on a pond not far away,
Coy swimming as they beg for fallen bread.
Mother sits upon the rocking chair,
As the boy pretends that he’s not dead.