Taro Hokkyo (Story)
Moderator 
TARO HOKKYO – JAPAIN
LONELY WARRIOR
After the vacant house was demolished, it wasn’t long before the apartment building began to rise. Thinking of friends I knew who died in some calamity, I feel utterly sick of living in this world. Carpenters pass steel pipes back and forth. Everything passes by as if nothing has changed, even though the world has changed, and I myself have changed.
Sometimes I wish for a lover. I look back on the life I’ve lived. It’s different from my youth. There’s no such thing as success or failure in life. We’re just born, we live, and we die. Even those called great men in later generations, once they’re dead, can no longer recognize it.
Still, to survive in this world, there’s a lonely battle—a battle no one can see from the outside. Even if you act cheerful among people, once you’re home alone for a while, anyone can tell. What else are we but lonely warriors? Who truly understands me? Tears I’ve never shown in public spill.
What is this sense of loss? The emptiness when two lovers embrace, yet their hearts remain apart. I know, Mary. All we could do was shield each other’s loneliness just a little. That feeling of loss—that we could never truly become one—is only forgotten when fighting, when we’re battered and bruised.
Construction ends, and a new building rises. People come and go from somewhere else. Do these solitary warriors choose to fight to the end rather than taste their loneliness? Another day ends as a defeated warrior. Mary, at least before I die, hold my hand—even if it’s just in a dream. Hold it tighter.
Prepared for publication by Angela Kosta
