A classic and beautiful article suitable for recitation is "The Flowers Are Not Sleeping".
The full text of "The Flowers Are Not Sleeping" has only more than a thousand words. It is a short prose sketch. However, such a short work vividly expresses Kawabata Yasunari's perception of aesthetics and deeply portrays the author. Thoughts on nature and life, through implicit expressions and leaping language, profoundly explain the author's feelings about the beauty of life.
Kawabata Yasunari's life experience was mixed. His parents died when he was young, his relatives passed away in childhood, and his life as a teenager was melancholy. His experience as an orphan made him withdrawn, introverted and morbid. This "orphan nature" will naturally make him feel more about the shortness and sadness of life. It was this kind of life experience that created his tragic personality, and this tragic personality became more and more prominent in his later years.
Excerpts from poems
I often think incredibly about trivial issues. When I arrived at Atami's hotel yesterday, the hotel staff brought begonia flowers that were different from the flowers in the alcove. I was too tired and fell asleep early. I woke up at four in the morning and found Begonia Hua awake.
I was shocked to find that the flowers were still awake. There are gourd flowers and tuberoses, as well as morning glories and albizia flowers. Almost all of these flowers bloom day and night. Flowers are sleepless at night. This is a known fact. But I just seemed to understand. Staring at the Begonia flower at four o'clock in the morning, I thought it was even more beautiful. It blooms and contains a kind of sad beauty.