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Stories of the Dark Side

Translation, Ian Christopher Goodman

 

“ 'Kay, now the butterfly’s gonna fly away,
and we’ll see its shadow on the blue sky.
We gotta close our eyes and believe!
A rainbow-coloured butterfly goes soooo high,
higher and higher, such a good flyer.

The butterfly flies to 100 years later.
And meets his lover again.
From 100 years earlier.
…now it all disappears…”


“Peel that mandarin orange,
out bounce 100 little gods!
The clock’s hands turn, churn,
swish and swash.
With pitters and patters
and jiggles and giggles
the goddies make a circle.
Then in the middle of the circle
a hole appears. It gets bigger.
All fall into the pit.”


“The golden petals of a cherry blossom
and all those googly gods
swirl and scream through the black hole.
Everything disappears with the wind.”

 
“I’m Mommy and you’re Daddy.
Let’s sneak into the crawl space.”
“Hellolo, Monsieur Soleil,
why you going home so soon?”


“Even if the wind vanishes,
we really oughtn’t strike a match.
Oughtn’t we?”


“We’re lost in a black, black, black place,
but there’s a flower, so soft and red!”


“<gasp> Its petals are falling,
swallowed by sunless ocean.
If so, what’s it blooming for?”


"Because you who are looking there
are there looking."