Once, I started painting faces on small dolls Two cents a face But even that job was short−lived. Next, I too started out in the morning With a lunch sitting on a park bench. In the park the sun dazzled The fountain glistened, pigeons fluttered up And a girl in a muslin kimono played hopscotch Alone. I spent all day with the pigeons But within a few days your mother found out. Long ago We lived in West Sugamo Hand in hand with that hapless time Just before the War Downstairs your great−eyed mother and elder sister Upstairs you and I And all the laundry hung to dry. Remember? You always made scrambled eggs to go with rice And once a month a plainclothesman wold come. When streamers went up around Tenso Shrine The vendors soid pinwheels and rice marzipan ...




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