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Poem

Michio Mado

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I Wonder Why

Sometimes I wonder
why it is not so.

For ages and ages, for billions of years
we have been living in the sunlight
that is so clear
We have been breathing air
that is so clear
We have been drinking water
that is so clear

Why then
haven’t we and
what we do come
to some clarity?

© Translation: 1999, Takako Lento
From: Masters of Modern Japanese Poetry
Publisher: The Morris-Lee Publishing Group, Rosemont, New Jersey, 1999

I WONDER WHY

From: Masters of Modern Japanese Poetry
Publisher: The Morris-Lee Publishing Group, Rosemont, New Jersey

Michio Mado

Michio Mado

(Japan, 1909 - 2014)

For the last half a century, literally everyone in Japan, of any age, has been familiar with the children’s song ‘Little Elephant’. This, and other well-known songs by the same writer, are almost as popular as Mother Goose nursery rhymes in the English-speaking world. But not many knew that these verses were written by a man named Michio Mado, and even fewer were aware that Mado was in fact a s...

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I Wonder Why

Sometimes I wonder
why it is not so.

For ages and ages, for billions of years
we have been living in the sunlight
that is so clear
We have been breathing air
that is so clear
We have been drinking water
that is so clear

Why then
haven’t we and
what we do come
to some clarity?

© 1999, Takako Lento
From: Masters of Modern Japanese Poetry
Publisher: 1999, The Morris-Lee Publishing Group, Rosemont, New Jersey

I Wonder Why

Sometimes I wonder
why it is not so.

For ages and ages, for billions of years
we have been living in the sunlight
that is so clear
We have been breathing air
that is so clear
We have been drinking water
that is so clear

Why then
haven’t we and
what we do come
to some clarity?

© 1999, Takako Lento
From: Masters of Modern Japanese Poetry
Publisher: 1999, The Morris-Lee Publishing Group, Rosemont, New Jersey

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