[Free Verse] Small Happiness (with Music & Tanka)
The busy
usual morning
To suddenly forget
the daily rush
I want to be someone
who can feel
such moments more easily
On the way to the office
there is a crosswalk without traffic lights
A moment waiting for the passing cars to break
The gentle deceleration
sends a signal to go ahead
A temporary stop with a smile saying 'after you'
I, responding to the thanks for yielding
without neglecting to check left and right
using my whole body
saying 'thank you'
adding a word in my heart
Bowing with a smile
Such a small event
At the start of the day
Gently warms the heart
That is
Whether you are an adult
Or a child, it is the same
If you cast off the noise
Just like taking off your clothes
Born from a small thought
A small happiness
Everyone possesses
With a small kindness
The fact that you can make that person happy
My individuality
Strengthened like surface tension
People
With a single word
Can laugh together
Simple
Not by dramatizing oneself
a person
with a single word
can become kind
Happiness is
just like that
that 'I' exist here and now
looking at this world
and being able to watch it
such
comfortable
relationships with people and things
to the importance of that
realizing
and building
from such
very small things
the scenery I will see tomorrow
is born
that everyone has
Let's cherish
the trivial
and slightly happy
feelings
of our daily lives,
cherish them
dearly,
let's keep them
close!
[Self-appointed tie-up song (^^♪)]
[Self-appointed tie-up Tanka (*^^)v)]
"Like a stuffed animal that can read a letter that ends with 'goodnight'"
"The shadow of the basket is beautiful, I stop my bike, in the middle of a winter day that feels more like spring than spring"
"Listening to 'Would you like to listen to this too?', I see spring in the town flowing outside"
"Burying my neck in my sweater, I listen to the radio voice like a fireplace"
"Going to the balcony to see the night, the night of the sound of someone buying a drink"
"Beautiful water taught to me by someone who thinks music is water"
"Looking at the moon, it was right above me, so I didn't notice it until after some time had passed"
"From tomorrow, the bread for tomorrow bought at a station that isn't my nearest one is warm"
(From 'Music' by Daiji Okano)
Yuji Togo mentioned that the secret to why Okano's tanka attracts so many people is because they depict universal 'small but certain happiness' (^^)
"One of the small but certain happinesses in life," abbreviated as "small but certain happiness."
"Afternoon in the Island of Langerhans" (Shinchosha Bunko) by Haruki Murakami / Mizumaru Anzai
In this book, Mr. Murakami says,
"Having a drawer full of clean underwear, neatly folded and rolled up"
is one of his small but certain happinesses, isn't it? (^^)
"Murakami Asahido Journal: How to Find a Swirly Cat" (Shinchosha Bunko) by Haruki Murakami
"To find personal 'small but certain happiness' (small but definite happiness) in life, some degree of self-regulation is more or less required.
For example, it's like the ice-cold beer you drink after working hard and exercising intensely; that thrill where you close your eyes and mutter to yourself, 'Yeah, that's it'—that is, after all, the real pleasure of 'small but certain happiness'."
(From Haruki Murakami's "How to Find a Swirly Cat")
"[Definitive Edition] Saikontan" by Yo Moriya
"The wind dies down, the waves subside, and everything becomes quiet.
It is in such silence that one can find the true pleasure of life.
A simple life, an occasional sound.
It is only in such a state of detachment that one can return to the original human heart."
(From "Saikontan")
From big happiness to small happiness.
Rather than a shift in thinking, isn't this a return to the way of thinking that Japanese people originally held?
Living a life suited to one's means, and in that life, many people found small happinesses and recorded them in poems, haiku, tanka, essays, and literature.
I think Matsuo Basho, Kenko Hoshi, and Kamo no Chomei are good examples, and in our relationships with important people and things, the idea of "small but certain happiness" is a concept that will be very useful for us as we live our lives (^^)
It's something I want to learn early on, and I must make sure not to forget it ^^;
I hope that for all of you, imagining a life surrounded by such small but certain happinesses will make you feel warm and fuzzy, and that every day will be filled with the joy of discovering something in places you thought you already understood♪
My small but certain happiness:
When I'm lying down reading a book,
I gradually start to doze off,
and have a little nap ꒰ღ˘ρε˘ρ꒱✯*･☪:.
It feels so good Zz◟(๑ᵕ⌓ᵕ̤)◞｡ｏ○