"Omnibus ille nobis comunne est iter; quid fata deflemus? Non reliquit ille nos, sed antecessit."
Friday, 22 January 2010 00:03 | 
夕焼けで（ゆうやけで）
末尾の祭り（まつびのまつり）
また出会う（またであう）
In the previous issue, the APU Times published one of his poems so called “What If”. The beautiful poem got a lot compliment from poetry loving readers. In this issue, we would like to introduce to all APU friends one of his Japanese senryu which is a kind of Japanese haiku (5/7/5) but is satirical of time. Unlike haiku, senryu does not include a kireji (cutting word), and does not generally include a kigo (season word). “Meaning is not for the writer to impose, but up to the reader” so we also hope you will have your own interpretation beyond the writer`s after reading the poem. Here is some support for your interpreting. And then check with Steven`s interpretation in the last page of the issue.
n 夕焼け（ゆうやけ）：sunset (imply lonely, sad or solitude)
n 末尾（まつび）：end, the last
n 祭り（まつり）：festival (imply happy, noisy, or ritual) but here it is closer to funeral rite
n また：again
n 出会う（であう）：meet
Steven Scheerooren
Exchange Student`09
Background story by Steven Scheerooren
The thing with poetry is that the interpretation can be different for each person. One of my teachers once said that meaning is not for the writer to impose, but up to the reader. So I present you not with what it means, but with what I, personally, see in this poem: the sunset in this case, is a metaphor for the last days of human life, as is the "final festival", which may be taken as a funeral rite. Then, after death (or on the verge between worlds) two people will meet again. I came up with this poem in the train, after I had been talking to two people there. One woman had lost her father (aged 46), and another woman's friend had just lost her daughter at age 25. Their stories moved me so that I found the inspiration to write these words. 人生は風前の灯火ですね。But let me end, as I intended in the poem, on a more positive note with a Latin quote this time: "Omnibus ille nobis comunne est iter; quid fata deflemus? Non reliquit ille nos, sed antecessit." The way is the same for us all; what fate do we mourn? They have not abandoned us, merely preceded us.
Sango
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Last Updated (Friday, 22 January 2010 00:05)