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BY KENJI MIYAZAWA
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Defying rains
Defying winds
Defying snow and summerŐs heat
In robust health
Never greedy
Never arrogant
Always serenely smiling
Eating four daily bowls of brown rice
With miso and some vegetable
Seeking no profit of his own
Expanding knowledge
By looking and listening
Of good memory
Living in a small thatched hut
Shaded by the plainŐs pine trees
If a child is ill in the east
He goes and nurses him
If a mother is exhausted in the west
He goes and helps her harvest crops
If someone is dying in the south
He goes and soothes her fears
If there are quarrels and law suits in the north
He admonishes people to drop them
A dry spell makes him weep
A chilly summer upsets him
Others call him imbecile
They slight him
They ignore him
This is the person
I wish to be
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English Translation by:
MIKA OHASA
English Major, Senior