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1st Night - 100 Years’ Vigil

This is what I saw in my dream.

As I sat at her bedside with my arms folded in front of me, the woman, who was lying on her back, told me in a quiet voice that she was going to die. Her long hair was spread out over her pillow, with her delicately contoured oval face resting in the middle. The depths of her white cheeks were flushed with the proper degree of warm color, and the color of her lips was naturally red. She didn’t appear to be dying. However, she said clearly in her quiet voice that she would die. I thought too, then, that she might indeed die. So I asked, looking down on her from above, if it were true then that she was going to die. Affirming that she was going to die, she opened her eyes wide. Her large moist eyes, surrounded by long lashes, were of the purest black. Within the pure black of her pupils, my own reflection floated with vivid clarity.

As I gazed through to the depths of her lustrous black eyes, I wondered again if she were really going to die.

So I carefully drew my mouth near to her pillow and asked again if she wouldn’t live, if she wouldn’t be all right. She responded in a quiet voice, with her dark eyes wide open but tired, that she would die, that she must die.

I asked in earnest if she could see my face. She smiled at me and replied that, yes, couldn’t I see myself reflected in her eyes? I quietly drew away from her pillow. As I folded my arms again, I wondered if she really must die.

After a while the woman spoke again.

“Please bury me after I die. Dig my grave with a large pearl oyster shell. Set a fragment of star, fallen from the heavens, on my grave as a marker. Then wait by my grave. Wait for me to return. ”

I asked her when she would return.

“You know that the sun will rise. And you know that it will set.

I confirmed with a nod that I would. The woman made her quiet voice a touch stronger.

“Wait for me a hundred years,” she said with a resolute tone. “Stay by my graveside and wait for a hundred years. I promise to return. ”

I told her simply that I would wait. As I spoke, my own reflection, that I saw clearly in her black pupils, began to break apart. I realized it was flowing away, like a reflected image in still water upset by movement.

Then her eyes fell shut, and a tear dropped from her long lashes to her cheek. -- She was gone.

Ten Nights of Dreams by Natsume Sōseki – Sōseki Project

1

I went down to the garden and dug her grave with a pearl oyster shell. It was a large shell with smooth, sharp edges. With each scoop of earth, moonbeams struck the back of the shell, making it shimmer. The moist earth was fragrant. After a while the grave was dug. I placed the woman within and gently covered her with the soft earth. With each motion, moonbeams struck the back of the shell.

Next I gathered up a fallen fragment of star, brought it to the grave, and set it lightly over the earth. The fragment of star was round. I thought that its edges must have worn smooth during its long fall through the heavens. As I held it close to set it in place, my arms and chest warmed a bit.