A Used-shoe Store

   Rain threatening any moment in the May sky.
In a grungy port town, a used-shoe store.

All the used shoes hung from the eaves, every one of them,
heels worn, leather torn, all repaired as long as possible, trash no longer mendable.
Delicate types whose rundown state you feel all the more keenly,
dated deep rubber shoes,

student shoes covered with coloured patches,
boots that haven’t lost suggestions of power and prestige, children’s shoes,
each in its own way, crossing which ocean routes, these ragtag vessels,
now gathered here, all tired.

Oh, what metaphoric views all this.

Even so I try to find a companion that fits my feet.
Yes I know. Leather soles that have turned gritty with the sweat and foot grease of someone somewhere, the pain of a stud sticking out.

Yes I know. The cold of the water that seeps in, the urge to cry,
the deeply sympathetic words that touch us two, that we the down-and-out can understand in our hearts.
 

古靴店

古靴店

いまにもふりだしさうな五月空（さつきぞら）。
うらぶれた港町の、一軒の古靴店。

軒につるした古靴はどれもこれも
踵がちび、革が破れ、いづれ修繕しつくして、なほしがきかない廃れもの。
いまの落魄が、一入身に沁みる華奢型や、
時代おくれなふかゴムや、

色紙だらけの学生靴。
権勢の俤失せぬ長靴や、子供靴、
それぞれに、どんな海路をわたりつかれて、
あつまつてきたぼろ舟たちか。

おゝ、かなしくも風諭的なこのながめよ。

私は猶も、そのなかから、足にあふ伴侶を物色する。
知ってるよ。どこかの人の汗や足脂でぎちぎちになつた底革や、突き出た釘の痛さなど。

知ってるよ。しみこんでくる水のつめたさや、泣きたさや、
おちぶれたものの心にかよひあふ、私たち同士のほろりとしたおもひやりふかい言葉など。