After We Were Defeated at War

After we were defeated at war
ten million babies were born

That is why the sea is deep blue
the sky is, therefore, deep blue

Look, like a drop of blood
the sun is a red dot

To cinerary urns, to cinerary urns, to cinerary urns
marched half of the aging twentieth century

Crippled crickets say they’ll start all over from scratch
in the depths of woods where the leaves have all fallen

One gentle sweep of hill
bean plants flower in a winter garden

What did history record?
clouds come and wipe it all away

the deep blue sky
the deep blue sea

Planes fell over there
a warship sank out there

To hear the roar of artillery shells
alongside Man’yo-shu poems –

Whose shadows are they
in the depths of woods randomly deforested?

Yet the sky and the sea are
deep blue

After we were defeated at war
ten million babies were born

AFTER WE WERE DEFEATED AT WAR