Be Not Defeated by the Rain

Unbeaten by the rain
Unbeaten by the wind
Bested by neither snow nor summer heat

Strong of body
Free of desire
Never angry
Always smiling quietly

Dining daily on four cups of brown rice
Some miso and a few vegetables

Observing all things
With dispassion
But remembering well

Living in a small, thatched-roof house
In the meadow beneath a canopy of pines

Going east to nurse the sick child
Going west to bear sheaves of rice for the weary mother
Going south to tell the dying man there is no cause for fear
Going north to tell those who fight to put aside their trifles

Shedding tears in time of drought
Wandering at a loss during the cold summer
Called useless by all

Neither praised
Nor a bother
Such is the person
I wish to be.

Kenji Miyazawa
Translated from the original Japanese by Hart Larrabee