Komatsubara (variety of rice)

Komatsubara, Misuzu Kaneko
Komatsubara,
Pine trees have become scarce.
The old man who is always sawing wood,
is always pulling a huge timber.
Pushing and pulling, each time,
white sails visible and hidden,
seagulls fly above the waves,
cloud sparrows chirp in the sky.
The sea and the sky are in spring,
but the pines and the woodcutter look lonely.
New houses are being built here and there,
Komatsubara,
Pine trees are fewer and fewer.
From “The Complete Collection of Misuzu Kaneko’s Children’s Songs” (JULA Publishing Bureau).

*The poems by Misuzu Kaneko are published with the approval of the Society for the Preservation of Misuzu Kaneko’s Writings.
Please obtain permission from the “Society for the Preservation of Misuzu Kaneko’s Works” before reprinting.