THEY KNEW the way and went to seek you along the narrow lane, but I wandered abroad into the night for I was ignorant. I was not schooled enough to be afraid of you in the dark, therefore I came upon your doorstep unaware. The wise rebuked me and bade me be gone, for I had not come by the lane. I turned away in doubt, but you held me fast, and their scolding became louder every day.
I CANNOT remember my mother, only sometime in the midst of my play a tune seems to hover over my playthings, the tune of some song that she used to hum while rocking my cradle. I cannot remember my mother, but when in the early autumn morning the smell of the shiuli flowers floats in the air, the scent of the morning service in the temple comes to me as the scent of my mother. I cannot remember my mother, only when from my bedroom window I send my eyes into the blue of the distant sky, I feel that the stillness of my mother's gaze on my face has spread all over the sky.
