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Lemon Elegy

You had been so waiting for a lemon
In your sad and white and bright deathbed,
Your perfect teeth bit with a crunch
Into the lemon you took from my hand.
A topaz coloured scent arose.
Those few drops of heavenly lemon juice
Suddenly made you normal again.
Your shining lucid eyes smiled gently,
You gripped my hand with such a healthy strength!
Though there was a storm in your throat,
In these last moments of your life
You became the old Chieko again,
You focused a life of love into one moment
And then you took a big breath
Like on the mountain peaks long ago,
And in that breath your engine shut down.
Today, once again, under the cherry blossoms
By your photograph, I'll put a coldly shining lemon.

The Chieko
Poems
by Kotaro
Takamura

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