[A poem has the power of healing a wounded-heart. It can
show a way through or it can give you a shield to hide behind. It can turn the
light back on in a place you thought was permanently disconnected. It can be a
talisman to be worn in the head for warding off miseries. Kuroda Saburo [1919-1980]
is a Japanese poet, he writes often of matters relating to love & family.
‘I am completely different’ is one of his best poems- I even call it a modern
mantra, for the act of reading it is somehow comforting. Saburo always sees
roses in debris; hear dirge as a song from a Nightingale. He feels eruption of
hope in the midst of devastation and destruction. It is one of my favorite
poems- I read it again and again whenever I feel blue… whenever the course of
life becomes uncharitable.]
I am
completely different.
Though I am
wearing the same tie as yesterday,
am as poor as
yesterday,
as good for
nothing as yesterday,
today
I am
completely different.
Though I am
wearing the same clothes,
am as dirty as
yesterday,
living as
clumsily as yesterday, nevertheless
today
I am
completely different.
Ah-
I patiently
close my eyes
on all the
grins and smirks
on all the
twisted smiles and horse laughs
on all the
shameful defeats and defaults-
and glimpse
then, inside me
one beautiful
white butterfly
fluttering
towards tomorrow.
Image
courtesy: Google
