America, in a toilet in Santa Fe Daybreak I was urinating softly for a long long time In the whole worldI felt as if there was only this sound and myself Despite the fact that I was making the noise Curiously it sounded as if it was coming from outside As I was being consoled by it Like an old woman’s unending story I was Waiting for it to end But it would not A time that doesn’t belong To anyone Anywhere I wasn’t here, I’m not alive, I could even say this Presently the sound ceased In this room that had rapidly grown cold A silent soul suddenly created Is that me, is it me? The temperature of life left in the shape of an invisible circle Were you there? Were you there in that room? I was I am alive Long before then the questioning voice reached me
- translated from Japanese by Leith Morton (originally published by Vagabond Press : Poems of Masayo Koike, Shuntaro Tanikawa & Rin Ishigaki)