Exile On Main Street (In Memoriam Walter "Terry" Klein)

Exile On Main Street (In Memoriam Walter “Terry” Klein)


Shoryo ni
iza tsuredatan
nishi no sora*

[Hokuso]


In the midwest in winter
they spread their highways
with an ocean of salt.

In spring like clockwork
gray sidewalks exhale waiting
for the ferry to the Martha’s Vineyard
they have never seen.

He passes an elderly Japanese
striding easily with a soldier’s air.
Eyes meet. The slightest bow.

He too smells the sea.

[copyright EAC]
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N.B.: A short notice on the Chinese character 德 (Te/De), "Virtue", "Character", "Integrity", may be found at wikipedia below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_(Chinese)

A translation of the lines in Japanese above with an important note from Yoel Hoffman is available online below:

http://books.google.com/books?id=fF75Qvo-VckC&pg=PA191&lpg=PA191&dq=Hokuso+shoryo+ni&source=bl&ots=6T7p5BFWCv&sig=K7t9rVIQHULpLfdpI0sVf8jxZJo&hl=en&ei=otHOSuicDouMMZ2mvZQD&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=Hokuso%20shoryo%20ni&f=false

À bientôt, Terry, mon ami.