Excerpt from “For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut”
by Takashi Hiraide
translated by Sawako Nakayasu
2008

Things that rain,
                 and things that grow.

They are all that hold my interest.

(Until the things that rain have grown,       and the things that grow have poured.)

Things that grow,
                  and things that rain.

They are all that I desire.

(Until the things that grow cease to grow,
                  and the things that rain no longer rain a single drop.)