Adashino, near Kyoto
– Nembutsu-ji, a 9th-century temple for the repose of those who had no earthly attachments
Those who die either loving or hating,
to excess, return as craving
ghosts. (So it says in the Tale of Genji.)
But those who had no one to hate, or love,
must be remembered, if only by strangers.
Here it’s the task of a salaryman
who wanders among the anonymous gravestones
snapping photos and humming a sutra.
Small doll-shaped stones, tied with aprons,
mark abortions. Each stone, born
or unbirthed, is lit with a candle one August night,
O-Bon. When evening remembers the dark,
eight thousand souls float on blue light, like water.
Donna Dickenson is Professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London. As well as her academic writing, she has published biographies, poetry and radio plays. She is now working on a novel.
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magazine list
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