8.匆匆

8. Haste

1．When the swallows go, there is a time to come again; when the willows wither, there is a time to green again; when the peach blossoms are gone, there is a time to bloom again.

2．But, wise, tell me, why are our days gone forever?

3. - Someone stole them: who was it?

4．And where are they hidden?

5 - They escaped of their own accord, didn't they: where have they gone now?

6. I do not know how many days they have given me; but my hands are indeed growing empty.

7．Counting in silence, more than eight thousand days had slipped from my hands, like a drop of water on the tip of a needle in the sea, and my days dripped in the stream of time, without sound or shadow.

8. I can't help but head stained and tears weeping.

9．Those who go, though they go, and those who come, though they come, how do they hurry in the middle of going and coming?

10. When I got up in the morning, two triangles of slanting sun came into the cottage.

11. The sun had feet, and moved gently and quietly; and I followed it in a daze.

12. And so - when I washed my hands, the day passed through the basin; when I ate, the day passed through the bowl; when I was silent, it passed before my staring eyes.

13. I perceived that he had gone in haste, and when I stretched out my hand to cover him, he passed by the side of the hand he was covering.

14. When I opened my eyes and saw the sun again, it was another day that had slipped away.

15．I hid my face and sighed.

16．But the shadow of the new day began to flash again in the sigh.

17．What could I do in the world of thousands of doors in the days when I was fleeing like flying?

18．Only wandering, only hurrying.

19．In the 8,000-odd days of hurry, what is left but wandering?

20．The past days are like smoke, blown away by the breeze, like mist, vaporized by the early sun.

21．What traces do I have left?

22．What traces have I left like wisps?

23．I came into the world naked, and I will return naked in a moment, right?

24. but why should I walk in vain, if I cannot be flat?

25. Tell me, thou wise one, why are our days gone?