Ohokenaku (Senzai-shu / Former Archbishop Jien, Hyakunin Isshu No. 95) Garu JP
"Presumptuous though I am, I would cover the people of this sorrowful world
with the black sleeve of the robe I first wore on this mountain"
Second year at the company, still clumsy even handing over a business card
Only the cuffs of my black suit have worn a little thin
My first junior stands frozen, face gone pale
The air in the meeting room goes cold, you could almost hear it
Not long ago, I was the one standing right there
"Presumptuous though I am, I would cover the people of this sorrowful world"
Before I knew it, I had stepped forward
"I should have been the one checking," I said
in a trembling voice
"with the black sleeve of the robe I wear on this mountain"
Long, long ago, a monk who had just come to live on the mountain
looked down from its peak on a capital in ruins
and with nothing but the sleeve of his black robe
wrote that he would cover the whole world
No one knew better how little he had
And still he could not keep from saying it
"Presumptuous though I am, I would cover the people of this sorrowful world"
With this sleeve of someone only half-grown
at least your trembling shoulders
let me cover them
"with the black sleeve of the robe I wear on this mountain"
On the train home, "I'm sorry,"
you say, bowing your head again and again
I only said "It's fine" and looked out the window
In the glass, my black sleeve was still trembling a little
"Presumptuous though I am, I would cover the people of this sorrowful world"
From today, this is the mountain where I stand
I spread my worn-out sleeves
and tomorrow, too, I'll stand in front
"with the black sleeve of the robe I wear on this mountain"
Sleeves dyed black
Sleeves of a new beginning
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