11:27 p.m. - 2006-01-19
a romantics lament on a summer night
a romantic's lament on a summer night
Tokyo 1801,
this summer the fireworks festival was a success. The children liked the glittery explosions and they kept asking me, begging me, to let them light the fuses.
but it's dangerous, i tell them, some of the fuses are erratic and they rapidly burn, consuming the lock, till the dragon escapes his hard paper-packed cage, and bursts forth in a shrill scream across the night,
fighting and finding no respite, for the years he has spent in captivity, ferment and seething in his rage; for the moment he is free, vengeance exacted is the only light he can see in these years spent in the cruel darkness.
The crowds gather in their kimono best, awaiting the final display, the grand climax of the night, celebrating their entrance into adultwood, celebrating the future of their bright lives.
unknowingly, in their cheerful claps and serendipitous smiles - they do not realise, the death in the lonely starless night - they hug one another warmly with snug sleeves.
