lantern carried off
photo by a. girling
Kyoto, appalled
What disillusion in a city visited
for the first time, and everything so vivid,
vibrant as an uncorked Bordeaux.
And what openness I felt to textures, aromas,
even the press of crowds on boulevards—
yet still, this dejection known only to me,
a type of arrogance that can’t be helped;
facing the court of no appeal,
this innocent town given little chance,
not the winding Kamogawa, egrets wading,
not ancient temples, bells, the little shops,
nor the houses of tea where kimono clad
lovelies are still being born,
all collateral damage, all appalled:
as the moment, decisive, passes,
a lantern carried off, into the past,
a sorrow known only to me.
Beautiful.
I think the show must go on, as one person awake to see the theater like a Noh drama unfold, re told in many ways and each time a new interpretation could be created , even if seen by only two eyes.