The day you left home, your parents reconciled with the fact that they are getting old. Every time you go back for a visit, it breaks your heart a little to see them. You wished they'd fight a little against time. But they did, only for you. What happens when one day you go for a visit and they see you age. Isn't that the greater heartbreak? The child that they couldn't keep up with, is slowing down too? Now they fight a little more, to keep you young, to keep themselves young. But you keep meeting each other in transitions of age, time and self. You look at each other and worry too much.
#poetry #kerala #trains
Waka poem by Hitomaro
Here, Emperor Karu is liked to the sun climbing up the magnificent nature, and Emperor Kusakabe, the deceased prince's father, is liked to the setting moon. Emperor Kusakabe was the son of Emperor Temmu, but he died young at the age of 28 without ever ascending to the throne. While Hitomaro feels that the youthful Prince Karu was the next generation, his heart goes out to the regretful Kusakabe no Kohji.
Think of light and shadow as two sides of a coin, and the world spins madly on.
#japanesewaka #poetry
