The One-Way Path
—For the candlelight glows all night through—
For you walked on this path
must I go, too, on this path?
By the side of the pathway I saw the brilliant colored blossoms,
the color that delights the eyes of passersby. On the pathway
I smelled the full of sweet-scent from the blooms, the scent
that fascinates the wayfarers.
On the farther side of the pathway, I saw a flock of sheep
move on the pastureland grazing. And by my feet, I saw
the stream of clear water where the ripened spring
wafting on it, and the young fish swim in a shoal.
Under the moonbeam in the wood, I tasted the sweet wine
that refreshing nightly breeze has brought to me. I drank
the luscious wind that moderately intoxicates and brings
my mind to walk on air. I hear the soft whisper
that reminisces the delight bygone days.
But now, I am utterly worn out.
Because the loneliness afflicted on me for tens of thousands of years
causes an irresistible yearning for you, because the sadness that piled
and grown for hundreds of thousands of years beats on my heart,
I should like rolling over and pounding the ground, I feel much
like tearing my heart out and crying.
Still I have to go? Yet I have to advance?
An infant dead in yesterday decays
in the mother’s bosom.
For I will cast all my precious possessions away,
for I promise that I would behave nicely,
for I swear that I will bury all my sweet memories
that is in my heart, please, let me be as I am.
Must I go? Being pushed and dragged,
must I go? Against my own will,
though it’s only a beginning.
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