I cannot just keep crying.

I apologize if this sounds provocative💦. I think it is okay to cry. And yet, I also believe that once you have cried for a while, you must wipe away your tears, look forward, and move on.
What kind of actions are we referring to when we talk about being kind to others and to ourselves? Is it just about saying empty words like, "That must be hard. I know how you feel. Hang in there"?

In my arrogance, I cannot think so.
Here, I would like to open up the book by Yoshio Hishikawa that I cited earlier.

" Fulfillment of Hunger" is also the textbook I used when I took the contemporary tanka course at the Hokkaido Asahi Culture Center (Instructor: Yoshio Hishikawa, who was a professor at Hokkai-Gakuen University at the time). It is a hardcover book, something rarely seen now. The weight of the book itself and the words woven within it have not changed since the first edition in 1980, even now in 2023, the year of Reiwa 5; no, they have only increased in weight.

Here, I would like to touch a little on the person Yoshio Hishikawa and his character. Reading the above, you might feel, "What a strict person. I'm too scared to get close💦." That is not the case at all.
When this lecture began, he reached out to me, saying, "Harunaga-san, have you obtained 'Fulfillment of Hunger'? You can buy it right at the culture center counter, did you know?"
When I replied, "I couldn't find it at bookstores in the city, perhaps I didn't look hard enough. I ordered it as a new book from a used bookstore in Kyoto," he thanked me, saying, "Oh, I see. Well, it's difficult to handle, so general bookstores don't really carry it. It's rarely available. I'm glad you have it. Thank you for going to the trouble of ordering it from afar."

A kind and considerate man, yet a literary critic who allowed no compromise in his words. That is who Yoshio Hishikawa was. It has been 17 years since he passed away, but I will speak of him in the present tense forever. Because he will never become the past.

Now. I must answer Yukitsuna Sasaki's " Does crying solve it?" counter-question.

Crying cannot possibly solve anything. If I have time to cry, if I have that kind of luxury, I will grit my teeth, put on a stiff smile, and live through today and tomorrow with all my might.Exposing my unseemly self, yet still searching for what only I can do. I sing. Tanka is not a place to vent one's sorrows.
To entrust hope to the future is precisely why poets do not let go of the thirty-one syllables and raise their true cries through rhythm. They sing of life. In the 21st century, on the verge of 2024, I reclaim my song.

It is okay to cry. There will always be someone who will cry with you. And then, let us stop crying. Even if today's sky is rainy, the rain will surely clear. Even if it is after I can no longer walk.

Well then, I will end this article of arrogance. Thank you for staying with me until the end.
This time, I composed a tanka dedicated to Mr. Yoshio Hishikawa (and by extension, Mr. Yukitsuna Sasaki).
#FavoriteTanka I will participate.

I plan to summarize my "Favorite Tanka History?" in a separate article.

Reference article on tanka composition
Why not learn how to write "tanka" and make it an adult hobby?Create joyfully with free ideas and add color to your life /LIFULL HOME'S

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