Be left behind by the coast
Pick it up and don't think.
What will it do?
I can't bear to throw it away.
I put it in my sleeve pocket.
On a moonlit night, a button
Be left behind by the coast
Pick it up and don't think.
What will it do?
Didn't abandon it to the moon.
Didn't throw it into the waves.
I put it in my sleeve pocket.
Moonlight, pick up the button.
Touched my fingertips and touched my heart.
Moonlight, pick up the button.
Why throw it away?
(translated by Lin Fan)
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なかはら まこと showed his literary talent very early. /kloc-at the age of 0/9, he decided to take the road of poetry creation. At that time, at the end of the war, the whole Japanese society had not fully recovered from the trauma of World War I, and Dadaism prevailed in literature and art. The author's literary creation in this social environment was undoubtedly influenced to a certain extent, so his poems gave people the impression that although weak, they touched the soul and deep consciousness, and were confessions of people with traumatized souls. His poems were not valued by people before his death. After World War II, people rediscovered the value of his poems.
Moonlit Seaside is a serenade-style work, which describes the poet's deep sorrow when he came to the vast seashore on a moonlit night and accidentally found a "button" that I don't know who left here. In なかはら まこと's works, everything at night is so peaceful. Walking on this beach seems to be in a dream that is also true and illusory, and my heart is lost in an empty space to pursue the warmth of yesterday's blue sea. Readers seem to see the moon hanging naturally and quietly in the sky, moving slowly. It's not just a button left at the seaside, there are many things we don't realize. Looking up, the moon is staring at the poet, so familiar and unfamiliar, I can't remember how many days, we didn't accept the moon's gaze, nor did we accept that simple and true care.
Who came to the seaside and lost the button? When did you drop it? The beginning of the poem gives the reader a suspense, which makes us guess the information of the owner of the button. Left a lonely button on this empty beach, no one cares. Who knows his loneliness? It was not until the poet passed by that he found out. The poet clearly knows that this button has no practical use-"I don't think it will be used", but the poet "did not abandon it to the moon/waves" but "put it in his sleeve pocket". The reason why the poet is like this is because this button just fits the poet's lonely mood at that time, as if he had met a bosom friend. This lonely button is like the projection of the poet's lonely mind at this moment in the quiet moonlight by the sea. "Where petals flow like tears, lonely birds sing their grief", this silent button is a vivid portrayal of the poet's sad and lonely mood. The poet couldn't help feeling sad when he saw this month's buttons.
The genius of the poet lies in putting such a sentimental scene in a typical "moonlit night" background and creating a strong bitterness and gloomy artistic conception. While the poet repeatedly emphasized this scene in his poems, he also quietly described and highlighted this sad atmosphere. Of course, he also took this opportunity to express his deep loneliness and sadness.
In the poem, the poet repeatedly asks, "Why should we abandon it?" We don't know what kind of similar experience the poet had, but we can clearly understand the sadness and anxiety that the poet exudes in his poems, which pervades between the lines of the poems and the hearts of readers and makes people unforgettable for a long time. Most of his poems don't rely on natural scenery to express their feelings, but are self-centered, relying on interpersonal relationships around them to eulogize a certain state of the human soul and express the sense of loss full of sadness and loneliness in adolescence with plain grammar and seamless rhythm. The formation of this unique poetic style is closely related to his own unfortunate life course.
(Zhu Haitang)