現代朗読協会

詩 「祈る人」をアーティストのChamiさんが英訳してくださいましたので、こちらにもアップさせていただきます。（管理人）

To the One Who Prays

by Yuu Mizuki

To the one who prays.

Have you already forgotten?

The path that we have traveled,

The path that led us here.

The distance covered, journeying the mountains, ridge after ridge and past the cries of the soul of many.

In this moment, what do you pray?

You know so well, your own powerlessness.

You gain your daily sustenance so effortlessly, go places where you wish freely, and fall asleep without disturbance. But just because this is so, you cannot share that with others, nor have the power to change the circumstance of those living in unknown foreign lands.

The world is covered with war, calamity, and poverty. In that distant place, bullets fly midair and landmines explode. In that distant place, children starve and epidemics fester.  In that distant place, blood is shed, people stumble, violence is done. You cannot do anything about that.

The only thing you can do is to gather your thoughts and send your heart.

The only thing you can do is to pray.

The only thing you can do is to send your heart and pray.

So you pray.

As you make music.

As you paint.

As you prepare a meal for your loved one.

As you clean the windowsill and water the potted plant.

You pray, and send your heart.

Fully knowing that nothing will change, knowing you don’t have the power to change anything.

You know there is no hope left in this world, don’t you?

But I still listen.

The forests sing with the birds, and the wind whispers the fragrance of life,

since long before the time we were born.

But in you, something changes.

To you,

The one who paints.

The one who sings.

The one who prays.