Dear Future Me Dear Future Me
“Dear Future Me” is a series in which Shohei Koyama—poet and owner of JIYUCHO — delivers poetic words in Japanese and English, like letters to his future self that trace the subtleties of everyday life. I hope this becomes a place like your mailbox where postcard poems arrive.
Something New
Something new
is born again today
A summer day made for the sound of a trumpet
Something once born
Something that was new
If it still shines then today is another beginning
Distracted by where it began and where it ends
Something I forgot even to count
Something I might remember
if I split open a watermelon
Something I had when I was a child
Today again someone is talking about something new
I pass by with a sideways glance
and begin here on the next part of an ordinary newness
Beyond the new
Who can I ask what all these years have meant
and receive an answer for the next new thing
Though even if I got one I would never be satisfied
I miss the days when all I did was want
The me who has come this far
and the me who is here now
Together we will find
something new
The you who will go on from here
and the you who is here now
Together we will find
something new
Something fresh enough to shine
something that is both a continuation and a beginning
something that belongs to all the days until today and all the days from today
something that has long been nurtured and has only just been born
something untouched abundant and entirely new
Neither white nor black
both white and black
the first cry of something new
Today again I hear it from somewhere without even noticing
May this be a gentle and bright world
About this piece
- What did you think or feel after writing and reading this poem?
- When did you write it, and under what circumstances?
