突然エイリアン SUDDENLY AN ALIEN

　　突然エイリアン

小布施の駅を午後４時に

去って、名古屋へ３時間

さよなら小布施、北斎館

栗饅頭やコスモスよ

小布施の路地や大通り

一日歩いてくたびれて

喉を潤す缶ビール

電車に揺れて眠くなる

山並み際立つ午後の５時

まばゆく太陽沈みかけ

最後の光放ちつつ

茜雲が暗くなる

夕焼け空に星光り

黒い稜線シルエット

いよいよ空が暗くなり

空と山並み溶ける黒

灯りちらほら６時半

車窓に見える高いビル

ネオンや車きらびやか

突如見上げる名古屋駅

小布施の道や舞妓の絵

コスモスの花消え去りて

一瞬名古屋になじめずに

突然お前はエイリアン

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　　　　　　　　　SUDDENLY AN ALIEN

　　In early October I visited Obuse in Nagano Prefecture with my wife. It took about three hours to get there by train. Obuse is famous for the Hokusai Art Museum, which exhibits the 19th century painter, Katsushika Hokusai's wood-block prints and his original paintings. One of them attracted my attention. It is a picture of a dancing girl clad in red priestess clothes holding a dancing bell.

　　There were a lot of cosmoses and chestnut trees by the roadsides. I enjoyed walkig along the Chestnut Path, which was paved with chestnut treee blocks. I enoyed eating chestnut jam bums.

Obuse Station at four in the afternoon

three-hour return trip to Nagoya

good-bye Obuse, roadside cosmoses,

chestnut trees, and Hokusai Art Museum

exhausted after walking all day

along the country roads in Obuse

a can of beer quenches my throat

asleep in the shaking of the train

at five, the mountain ridge against the sky

the sun is setting beaming the last light

of the day. Reddish clouds are fading and

the sky is changing into darkness

a star above the mountain silhouette

the sky is getting darker and darker

darkness of the sky and darkness of mountains

finally mingle, leaving no distinct border

at six thirty, a few lights from the passing houses

as the train approaches Nagoya, I see

tall buildings, neon signs, busy vehicles,

lastly Nagoya Station skyscrapers overwhelms me

what has become of cosmoses in Obuse?

chestnut trees, buns, and Hokusai’s dancing girl?

for a few moments I am an alien

breathing filthy air surrounded by foreigners