I Have Never Been Anything Like Pink Poem by Kazuko Shiraishi

I have never been anything like pink
a child becomes a girl and finally when she heads for the dawn
there is one long road to M. from Y. a bus goes by every thirty
minutes
when she missed the bus the girl
walked with a large brown bag in the dark daytime
on a road lined with black woods on both sides
when a raven flew over
she called out, "Poe"
Poe's "The Raven" and Prison without Bars were her only partners
to talk to
even now she can dream of that long road sometimes the
characteristic whizzing
wind of Musashino carried off the girl's black bobbed hair
childlike human beings go walking on it like black specks

even though I call out come here I will put you on my palm
the girl can't hear me
because she is walking in
the gray cloudy weather where time's rain of tens of years ago is
about to fall
the road where the child became a girl and finally
heads for dawn is broken