Love Letter from a Ninety-Year-Old~ inspired by the autobiography of the late sociologist Hidetoshi Kato (1930-2023), by the same title

1.
At the age of ninety,
he pens a letter
to his wife.

If she were still alive,
she would be ninety years old, too.
He reflects on the past decades of their marriage.

2.
Their first encounter happened in 1937
when they were in elementary school,
where she left a lasting impression
on him as one of the prettiest.

The second encounter was on May 1, 1952.
They were on the same spot by chance,
among a large crowd protesting
the new US-Japan treaty.

They ran away when the police attacked,
holding each other’s hands.
Now, we commemorate the “Bloody May Day”
that unfolded in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

It was also an accidental and fateful reunion
that led to their life-long relationship.

3.
Before the bloodstained march,
they lived their respective lives
unaware of each other.

The war was about to end
with Japan’s unconditional surrender.
Their hometown of Tokyo was devastated.

Everybody struggled to survive.
He evacuated before the bombing of Tokyo.

But she stayed in Tokyo, and ended up
living in the streets like a stray cat
after her house was razed to the ground
by the heavy bombardment.

This experience tortured her whole life.
She closed her eyes tightly
whenever she passed by the place
where she witnessed the pile of human bodies.

He could never relate to her
though they suffered in the same war.
It distressed him throughout their marriage.

4.
Japan experienced a rags-to-riches story,
from a defeated nation hit by nuclear bombs
to “Japan as Number One: Lessons for America.”

She quit her job as a high school teacher
and crossed over the ocean to America to marry him,
where he had already settled earlier
as a promising Japanese scholar.

They moved many times into different parts of the world,
inseparable from one another, for his research.
Life was a long journey for them.

The marriage resulted into a kind of disconnection
from her own family in Japan.
They soon became detached from both of their families.

He pursued his career intently.
She followed him wherever he was assigned
by saying, “Whatever you like to do, do it. I’ll be with you.”

He engaged himself fully in his fields for study.
She raised their children by herself alone
and took every responsibility of household matters.

She always carried a hint of a smile on her face, even when
she recalled some excessive burdens he laid on her,
for the sake of his study and work.

He took it for granted, and until now wants to believe
that she had accepted all those things, and not unwillingly.

5.
Time has passed, and society has changed.
Their children grew up and left home one after another
forming their own nuclear families.
She started saying, “We’ve become two alone.”

Her favorite movie was, “The Godfather,”
an American film chronicling an Italian big family.
She watched the film repeatedly
and admired their strong familial bonds.

When she turned seventy,
she developed a serious cardiac disease.
He had been chronically ill since he was sixty,
with various stomach ailments, including cancer.

They became more considerate of each other
as they grew older.

He became her cane,
after her legs had drastically weakened.
She became his ears,
because his hearing noticeably declined.

One morning, he discovered her motionless in bed,
her eyes and mouth widely open.
It was all so sudden.
They had just exchanged “Good night” the previous night.

6.
Now, she is nowhere.
She left him alone, in loneliness.
He reflects on her life’s journey.

He is awestruck with the realization of
how she had spent her days, months, and years
with him alone.

She was not only a good housekeeper,
but was also an excellent cook, dressmaker,
gardener, craftswoman, oil painter,
chess player, and so on.

Her family was her exclusive audience.
He was her only opponent in chess.
He and their children were the sole witnesses of her talents.

Her strongest desire throughout her life
was to own an ideal house, designed to her taste
and large enough to live in with her family
in peace and affection for the rest of their lives.

She showed her unwavering commitment and
expended tremendous energy
in each and every house they inhabited.
She could not but check on all the details by herself.

Finally, she fulfilled her life-long goal;
living in her dream home in Tokyo, her hometown,
in her old age.

By then, her children had already left home,
leaving her to sigh, “We’ve become two alone.”
It was he alone who appreciated her dedication and devotion.

7.
In his unfathomable loneliness,
only her memories accompany him.
Every day and night, he does nothing but cherish them.

He concludes the letter,
“I have no one else in my mind
but you.”

At the age of ninety,
a husband writes a love letter
to his late wife.

…

Mayumi Yamamoto is a writer and academic based in Kyoto, Japan. Her poems and nonfictions appeared in Tint Journal, the Space Ink, RIC Journal and others.