Two Variations on a Poem by Tohko Malyama

by T Newfields






I.

Certainities vanish:
Isn't that a hallmark of change?

Beauty appears then withers:
What seems "new" today
is quickly out-of-date.

What is human "progress"
but another shape!
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II.

Clearly the world is in flux
The alluring also fades.

Revolving doors are deceiving:
what's the direction of seeing change?

Hearing "Yes we can"
I ask myself,
"Aren't most things the same?"

from Josei Gaka no Zenbou
Bijutsu Nenkan-sha (2003: 163)