The Day Your Words Made Me Cry

#The Day Your Words Made Me Cry

Haru Shibuki's words lit a small fire deep within my chest.

The emotions I had kept hidden for so long were quietly melting away—
On my way home from work.
Before I knew it, tears were spilling out on their own.

—I couldn't stop them.

My work that I had submitted to the Creative Awards.

Around the time the feedback started arriving, Haru's words suddenly lingered in my heart.

From the moment I read the first sentence, a warmth spread deep inside my chest.
As I read on, I realized that the emotions I had hidden somewhere,
were slowly unraveling.

*

(Below is an excerpt from Haru Shibuki's "Drowning in a Sea of Emotions")

*

When I read these words that Haru had written,
I felt as if someone had seen right through to something I had tucked away in the depths of my soul.

That sensation was a little frightening, but at the same time, it was a salvation.
The fact that someone had picked up on emotions I couldn't put into words well—
that was a small miracle for me.

*

It was no longer just feedback.
It was a dialogue, a prayer.
Each power of her words gently wrapped around my pain.

Not easily saying "I understand,"
but an attitude of trying to reach out, saying "But, even so."
In every line, the kindness of someone who knows pain was seeping through.

*

I don't know many pieces of writing that have faced someone else's emotions this carefully.
Haru had properly received the "things I wanted to convey" that lay behind my work.

And she wrote them down in her own words, as if it were a different poem entirely.
That act itself has already become a treasure to me.

*

We find it hard to affirm ourselves.
Especially when our hearts feel like they are breaking, we mutter "I'm no good" over and over.

Even so—
When someone tells me, "Your words saved me."
I feel like, perhaps, it's okay to forgive myself just a little.

*

(The following is an excerpt from Haru Shibuki's "Drowning in a Sea of Emotion")

*

These words that Haru-san wrote at the end
were words I had failed to say to myself countless times until now.

That is precisely why, when I heard them from someone else, they turned into tears.
I felt that someone had finally said them for me.

*

Haru-san.
Your words were more of a gift than a review.

--Thank you.

Because of your light, I am able to write again today.
May these tears become drops of hope for me.

*

The day your words made my tears overflow.
That was the moment I truly connected with someone for the first time.

--Thank you.
May these tears let me swim through the sea of words once more.

*

.........Even so, I wish to be quietly by someone's side.
Believing that I can be someone's light, just like you--

The tears that spilled that day are still warm somewhere in my heart.
And today, too, I might quietly cry at someone's words.

Even so, after I cry, I want to keep writing.
With "words" that can gently illuminate someone, just like you—

Rika