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The Lighthouse
You must not peer into the sky’s depths.
In the sky’s depths
gods are jostling one another like white-eyes.

Drifting in the candy-like ether,
an angel’s armpit hair.
A hawk’s feathers.

The smell of the gods’ skin as fierce as bronze burning. The scale. (1)

You must not stare at the sky’s depths.
Your eyes would be burned and crushed by the light.

That which comes down from the sky’s depths is the power that encompasses
eternity.

The punishment
for those who go against the sky.

Only devout souls ascend.
Standing erect in the mist of the sky,
a single white candle.
—the lighthouse.
 
 
 
 

Translator's Note: This is the first of a set of three poems. (1) The Chinese character used here means 'balance' or 'scale', but the ruby reading, denoted by the Japanese phonetic symbols alongside it, is given as 'kankan', making the meaning uncertain.