River of a Thousand Years

A hundred children died
And they have been dead for ten years.
In total a thousand years’ growth
Has been lost from this world.
It’s been carried away by a river.
The sky is blue.
The mountains are blue of a different hue.
But, to tell you the truth,
Nothing has been lost.
A thousand years have been
Poured into the present,
Making the land beautiful.
Now magnolia flowers have blossomed.
Soon swallows will come.
The river runs abundantly
And the sky is blue of spring.
You have all so grown up, haven’t you?


(Written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the destruction caused by the massive tsunami in the northeastern coast of Japan on 11 March 2011.)