Sakimore no Uta

Here is another one by Sada Masahi. It is actually a song he sang I am thinking in relation to the Japanese war. Though I found it amazing, I didn't quite like the ending. I was under the impression or wanted to think that what he conveyed was something rhetoric albeit difficult to accept or something along that line and that the poem's direction was more towards the self contemplating and understanding, not about nationalism. Nonetheless, this is just really beautiful. I wish I could write like this.

Please tell me

If all living things in this world

Are destined to live limited lives,

Is the sea mortal?

Is a mountain mortal?

How about the wind?

Is the sky the same?

Please tell me…

I, sometimes,

Ponder upon the miseries of human lives,

Upon the sorrows

Which everybody will equally feel,

Upon the agony of live,

Upon the sorrow of growing old,

Upon the pain of illness,

Upon the misery of dying,

And upon my present self

Please answer me…

If every life of all existences in this world,

Has its own destiny,

Is spring mortal?

Is autumn mortal?

Like summer goes,

Like winter comes,

Must everything pass away?

Can I reckon…

On the twinkling of a tiny life,

Something like a faint hope

Which cannot be grasped by human words,

Some people are passing,

Others are coming,

A waning moon

Will be waxing again

In our everyday lives;

Please tell me…

If all living things in this world

Are destined to live limited lives,

Is the sea mortal?

Is a mountain mortal?

Is spring mortal?

Is autumn mortal?

Is love mortal?

Is the human heart mortal?

Must everything including my beloved home country,

Pass away?