In the midst of Edo and Dutch
Red bricks and black granite architectonics,
Tourists, homeless, old, and drunk,
Sit here and there on grass patches,
Impassively munching snacks for dinner.
Two male cobblers
Are vigorously polishing boots
In the company of drunks
Their hands matching the
Speed of the motley traffic.
People are rushing to and fro
Going in different directions,
Some waiting at traffic lights,
Others engrossed, looking inward,
Matching speed with speed.
There a tourist sits with a homeless,
Here an old man with a drunk and,
Perhaps they wonder at the heart’s squalor,
The mean hurry of daily life,
The real value of diligence and enterprise.
June 2007, Tokyo
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