Sansei Yamao's poem [5]
At the Mountain
By Sansei Yamao
I went with Michito, soon to be three years old, to the mountain.
We were carrying trees for growing shiitake* down to the lower road.
I hauled up a big shii tree onto my shoulder,
And with Michito dragging a little tree, we started down the mountain trail.
On the mountain trails,
There are tree roots, and weeds, and creepers strewn across the paths,
Not to mention brambles with thorns.
Just walking here was hard for Michito,
And although his tree was small, he had to pull it and walk at the same time,
So he was struggling,
But it was 'daddy's job' so I couldn't drop to his pace.
As I walked on the trail lowered,
And when I started up the trail again after dropping off my tree,
I saw that even though Michito was close to tears,
He was still going down the trail without releasing his shii tree.
"Hey Mitto, attaboy!"
I said to him and continued back up the hill.
The mountain air seems pure to adults,
But I suppose that to Mitchito it must seem frightfully lonely.
With that thought I looked around me,
The sky was gray and leaden, and the leaves on the trees were a blackish green,
I heard the cry of a deer from far away,
And the leaves on the trees rustled eerily.
When I hauled up my second tree and made my way slowly down the trail again,
Michito was looking at the ground,
And dragging his tree, he too was going slowly down the mountain.
"Attaboy Mitto!" I said,
But when I looked at his face,
He didn't seem close to tears,
In fact he was smiling.
"Attaboy!" he answered.
So leaving him there, I went on down to the lower road,
And there I waited for him to come down.
While waiting,
The realization that the mountains are essentially a frightfully lonely place,
Dawned on me,
And I realized too that the fearfully lonely air,
Made me, as an adult, feel simple and pure.
Finally Michito came down,
But when I went to take the tree from him,
He refused and stood it upright by himself.
I said for the third time "Attaboy Mitto!"
"Attaboy!" he answered.
But, feeling that wasn't enough, I said,
"You really helped me out, Mitto."
He answered, "I really helped you out."
And together we went slowly back up the mountain.
*Shiitake is a mushroom species popular in Japan. Traditionally it is grown by implanting it in trees such as the shii tree.
Translated by Alex Jones and Kazue Daikoku
(March 2005)
'Biroba bosino sitade/Poetry of Sansei Yamao' 1993 Published in Yasosha
Other poems by Sansei Yamao:
"Make the fire", "Mitto-kun and a cloud", "A Moonlit Night", "Dawn Cafe Au Leit"
About Sansei Yamao
New INDEX page of Sansei Yamao's Poetry
Copyright 1993 by Sansei Yamao
English translation Copyright 2005 by Alexis Jones and Kazue Daikoku
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