Surasawa Pond

By Surasawa pond
on a billboard
a holy man paints a lie:

‘On the third day
of the third month
the dragon of this pond
will ascend to heaven.’

Two men scoff
a child dreams of black dragons
a holy man
explodes with laughter
The lie grows a tail
and fins 
 

An Aunt

from Sakurai
brimful with determined faith
pins her prayers on lasting

to see the ascent
Thus, the ripple of the lie
that on the third day
of the third month
the dragon of this pond
will ascend to heaven

From Yamato
to Izumi
as far as Harima and Tamba

the murmur, the arc
the shimmer, the flowering

lotus of the lie
that on the third day
of the third month
the dragon of this pond
will ascend to heaven

So

on the promised day
of the sacred month
with words that slip their leash
the holy man proclaims
he feels the wait as keenly
as the throng of black caps
gathered to witness
the dragon of this pond 
ascend to heaven

And on the third day
of the third month
a storm breaks
The crowd
unconscious of the passing hours
see cherry blossoms
a flash of gold
a hundred feet of vision
an Aunt breathing
‘It must have been’

On the fourth day
of the third month
some believe the truths

of holy men;

some of Aunts.

I, your humble narrator,

have not seen the water, but hear 
Surasawa pond
reflects the sunlight
without a ripple.

(Taken from Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale by Ryunosuke Akutagawa)