I Didn't Say To Act Dead. I

My Feelings Of Disgust Had Been So Loud Within Me, They’d Nearly Drowned Out Everything Else.

Couldn't The Wrong Sort Of Living Turn Anyone Mean? I Remembered Very Well That One Day Back In Yoroido, A Boy Pushed Me Into A Thorn Bush Near The Pond. By The Time I Clawed My Way Out I Was Mad Enough To Bite Through Wood. If A Few Minutes Of Suffering Could Make Me So Angry, What Would Years Of It Do? Even Stone Can Be Worn Down With Enough Rain.

An En Is A Karmic Bond Lasting A Lifetime. Nowadays Many People Seem To Believe Their Lives Are Entirely A Matter Of Choice; But In My Day We Viewed Ourselves As Pieces Of Clay That Forever Show The Fingerprints Of Everyone Who Has Touched Them.

The Swan Who Goes On Living In Its Parents' Tree Will Die; This Is Why Those Who Are Beautiful And Talented Bear The Burden Of Finding Their Own Way In The World.

I Fell Into A Sound Sleep And Dreamed That I Was At A Banquet Back In Gion, Talking With An Elderly Man Who Was Explaining To Me That His Wife, Whom He'd Cared For Deeply, Wasn't Really Dead Because The Pleasure Of Their Time Together Lived On Inside Him.