I May Live On

I may live on until
I long for this time
In which I am so unhappy,
And remember it fondly.

— Fujiwara No Kiyosuke
translated from the Japanese by Kenneth Rexroth

21 Comments on “I May Live On”

  1. Anthony Vasquez

    This poem is so sincere. You can live on, see what the future holds for you, but appreciatively remember old times as if it were yesterday. This is pretty much what the poem is about. If this were me, I would probably do the same thing. I would keep the times though, if it were to be a tremendous, thick, timeless treasure if it was to be open with a key. That is how I would describe my memories from where I live on, from the saddest to the gladdest.

    Reply
    • Ada Ocana

      Nice work with the alliteration, Anthony. I agree with you. We must appreciate and hold on to old times we have had. There only with you once and only once. Once. The moment won’t be the same again.

      Reply
    • Ashley Jimenez

      Good comment. I think that what you said was true because people do live and also await for what the future holds. People do have long ago memories that they know as if it were yesterday.

      Reply
  2. kaylee uribe

    This poem really connects to things in life , you will always live on you’ll never be forgotten. There will be those times when you never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory that will last forever .

    Reply
    • Ada Ocana

      Wow. Very inspiring and amazing what you have written kaylee. Memories. Last-longing-and things we will never let go to.

      Reply
    • Ashley Jimenez

      I like what you wrote because a moment does become a memory that will last forever. I think this connected to the poem well.

      Reply
    • Cesar Rosales

      I think the poet was dying and she wanted to describe her life in a poem

      Reply
  3. Ashley Jimenez

    I think most people can connect to this poem and the feelings behind it. We live day by day from our experiences from the past.Unfortunately,some of us hold sad memories that are unforgetable. Even though we don’t think about or mention these memories it doesn’t mean we forgot about them it just means we used them to make us stronger and learned from them. Sad story.Depressing.

    Reply
    • Ada Ocana

      Very true and exactly right ashley. Some people do go through hard times and hold them back but do learn from them. This has happenes to me once and it stopped me from being happy and being me.

      Reply
  4. Ada Ocana

    Sad. Depressed. This sounds as if someone were about to die and saying that they remember the time when they said they were going to die. How they longed, hoped, and waited for this moment and now that it comes they are very unhappy. They wished they hadn’t said it and regret doing or saying it also.

    Reply
    • Ashley Jimenez

      Good one. This also makes sense to the poem . Maybe it was a person who was dying.

      Reply
  5. Cesar Rosales

    This poem connects to life because even if you move on you will still remember all the good times and bad times you had in your life.Because everybody here has ups and downs like life’s a roller coaster.To me I have a had a lot of bad times but life goes on.Silence.

    Reply
  6. Christopher Sanchez

    It tells us to never be unhappy for the future and we always have to hope for the best and and we should look foward to the future no matter what happens

    Reply
  7. Jeff

    To me, this is not only about telling us to appreciate the good times while they’re here, it’s reminding us that things could always be worse. Essentially it’s saying sure, we’ve got it bad now, but there may come a time in the future where things are way worse, and we may look back on the present as ‘the good old days ‘.

    Reply
  8. Prince of Roses

    Every morning at 6am, even through blizzards, in my first years of college, I would have to take a bus and a train to and from school, because I kept failing my driving test. I hated that school and everyone in it. I hated that bus, and I hated that train. I felt ugly and tired every time I woke up. But when I listen to the music that brought me joy at that time, wear the shoes I would look down at while I sat waiting on an iron bench, or put on the silver gothic cross earrings I would wear every day, I can still see the sun rising and setting over that same train platform, where I’d sit alone and cry in frustration when the train was late. I can still feel that specific type of wind on my neck, even though I’m hundreds of miles away, with hair three times as long as it used to be then.

    Reply

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