Ueno Station: Two Long on the Road

A neon night near Ueno Station,

Cheapside at a bitter inn.

The proprietor's smirk

as he checks for our wedding rings

makes me ashamed to wear one.

Uncertainties and jealousies

accumulated in weeks on the road

overflow the mean space, will not fit our luggage

in the the small hours

while train whistles wish one away.

All night the sound and shake of hard tracks,

the cars halting with screams,

departing with moans –

hounds grown weary to death

but do not sleep.

None of the usual generosity

burns off the gloom

of that cramped room,

insufficient for

the breath of two freedoms.

                                    Japan, 10/94