Tsumura Yumiko / 津村由美子 – I
A March Episode
“Hello, this is Hella Berg . . .
(a familiar voice, long forgotten
reaching the corner of my flickering mind)
are you Yumiko?”
“Yes, I am.”
remembering her beaming face with the joy of teaching.
“You appeared in my dream last night and
I was up from four looking for your telephone number.”
“I am glad you found my footprint,
are you still at the same house?”
“Yes, but I have nothing to do now, I don’t have any disease
but have no energy and I can’t entertain anymore. I sit in the shade
of the oak tree in my garden, I am 88, so it’s OK if I die tomorrow.”
She had a fire burning for a long time, teaching German and Japanese.
Now her life and death meet face to face.
Her voice says she wants to go
just like a bird flies off a cliff.
“Yumiko, don’t give up teaching, it is such a noble profession.”
Our sleeves, indeed, touched
in our lots
of life.
“Hello, this is Hella Berg . . .
(a familiar voice, long forgotten
reaching the corner of my flickering mind)
are you Yumiko?”
“Yes, I am.”
remembering her beaming face with the joy of teaching.
“You appeared in my dream last night and
I was up from four looking for your telephone number.”
“I am glad you found my footprint,
are you still at the same house?”
“Yes, but I have nothing to do now, I don’t have any disease
but have no energy and I can’t entertain anymore. I sit in the shade
of the oak tree in my garden, I am 88, so it’s OK if I die tomorrow.”
She had a fire burning for a long time, teaching German and Japanese.
Now her life and death meet face to face.
Her voice says she wants to go
just like a bird flies off a cliff.
“Yumiko, don’t give up teaching, it is such a noble profession.”
Our sleeves, indeed, touched
in our lots
of life.
