Poem
Yukio Tsuji
MATSUOKA\'S HOUSE
I was six,a knapsack on my back.
Every time I set out for school
and passed Matsuoka\' s house
I felt like crying.
It was a very small house
four doors down from mine
and I always felt like turning around
and going home.
Though I was reluctant I didn\'t cry
and I went on to school.
My younger brother was six,
a knapsack on his back.
From the window I watched him
go off to school
wearing his floppy school cap.
I was in junior high.
He walked
slowly away,
slump-shouldered ,
and all at once
started crying out loud.
It was in front of Matsuoka\'s house.
Even now
when I go somewhere
for the first time
Matsuoka\'s house looms up in my memory.
I am suddenly overtaken
by sadness and helplessness.
“I could cry easily
I could easily
cry out”.
So thinking,
I just go along
without a word.
© Translation: 1998, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (Read by Don Mueller)
MATSUOKA\'S HOUSE
© 1987, Yukio Tsuji
From: Kaze no Hikikata
Publisher: Shoshi Yamada, Tokyo
From: Kaze no Hikikata
Publisher: Shoshi Yamada, Tokyo
Poems
Poems of Yukio Tsuji
Close
MATSUOKA\'S HOUSE
I was six,a knapsack on my back.
Every time I set out for school
and passed Matsuoka\' s house
I felt like crying.
It was a very small house
four doors down from mine
and I always felt like turning around
and going home.
Though I was reluctant I didn\'t cry
and I went on to school.
My younger brother was six,
a knapsack on his back.
From the window I watched him
go off to school
wearing his floppy school cap.
I was in junior high.
He walked
slowly away,
slump-shouldered ,
and all at once
started crying out loud.
It was in front of Matsuoka\'s house.
Even now
when I go somewhere
for the first time
Matsuoka\'s house looms up in my memory.
I am suddenly overtaken
by sadness and helplessness.
“I could cry easily
I could easily
cry out”.
So thinking,
I just go along
without a word.
© 1998, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (Read by Don Mueller)
From: Kaze no Hikikata
From: Kaze no Hikikata
MATSUOKA\'S HOUSE
I was six,a knapsack on my back.
Every time I set out for school
and passed Matsuoka\' s house
I felt like crying.
It was a very small house
four doors down from mine
and I always felt like turning around
and going home.
Though I was reluctant I didn\'t cry
and I went on to school.
My younger brother was six,
a knapsack on his back.
From the window I watched him
go off to school
wearing his floppy school cap.
I was in junior high.
He walked
slowly away,
slump-shouldered ,
and all at once
started crying out loud.
It was in front of Matsuoka\'s house.
Even now
when I go somewhere
for the first time
Matsuoka\'s house looms up in my memory.
I am suddenly overtaken
by sadness and helplessness.
“I could cry easily
I could easily
cry out”.
So thinking,
I just go along
without a word.
© 1998, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (Read by Don Mueller)
Sponsors
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère