We present this work in honor of the poet’s 120th birthday.

Today just before the light filled up the sky,
far off I heard bells sounding in the city.
Bells… why did I notice? As if sowing hate
the last shadows slowly and dolefully moved on.
Where have I left my sweet, childlike soul,
in what season, with what bell’s tune entwined?
In what season… and today to say my prayers
I stayed on bended knee in sorrow.
A prayer to beauty, to a forgotten mother,
to ignorance, to a smile, to the voice of a dream,
listening to the day’s bell of anguish
which sadly tolled an untimely death.

Translation by Georgia Theophillis Noble