Sonna toki ni/At times like that

そんなときに

大きな海で泳いでいる。
だんだん疲れるけど、
船も島も休む所も見えない。
急に、自分の涙の海で泳いでいることに気がつく。
泣きながら、その暗い波の下に沈み始める。

林にある暗い道に歩いている。
どこかにいかなければならないけど、
どこへ行くか覚えていない。
急に、静かな怖い声が聞こえて、「あきらめよ！」と言う。
進むかどうか決められない。

世界で最も高い山に登っている。
何日間も登っているけど、
山の頂上はまだとても遠い。
急に、下のほうを見て、怖くなる。
「頂上に届きたくないかもしれない」と思い始める。

でも、そんなときに、
涙の塩水は目を痛くしても、
泣かないで、
泳ぎ続けて。

そんなときに、
その暗い道は終わらなさそうでも、
その悪の声を聞かないで、
前のほうをじっと見つけて、歩き続けて。

そんなときに、
山が高くて怖くても、
下の方を見ないで、
山の頂上のほうへ登っていって。

ぜったい泳ぐのをやめないでくれ。
ぜったい歩くのをやめないでくれ。
ぜったい登るのをやめないでくれ。
ぜんぜんあきらめなければ、
いつか目的地に届くよ！

Rough English translation

At times like that

You're swimming in a huge ocean.
You're getting more and more tired,
But there are no boats, no islands, nor anywhere to rest in sight.
Suddenly, you realize that you're swimming in an ocean of your own tears.
As you cry, you begin to sink beneath the dark waves..

You're walking down a dark road in a forest
You need to go somewhere,
But you can't remember where.
Suddenly, a quiet but terrifying voice cries out, "Give up!"
And you can't decide whether or not to keep going

You're climbing the world's tallest mountain.
You've been climbing for days,
But the summit of the mountain is still very far away.
Suddenly, you look down, and become afraid.
You start to think that perhaps you don't want to reach the summit after all.

But...

At times like that,
Even if the salty water of the tears makes your eyes hurt,
Don't cry,
And keep swimming.

At times like that,
Even if that dark road seems endless,
Don't listen to that evil voice,
Look straight ahead and keep walking.

At times like that,
Even if the mountain is high and frightening,
Don't look down,
And keep climbing towards the summit.

Never stop swimming!
Never stop walking!
Never stop climbing!
If you never give up,
One day you will reach your goals!

Notes: I wrote this poem with a friend of mine who had been feeling depressed and hopeless in mind. We studied Japanese together in college, so I wrote this first in Japanese, and then translated it here so that a broader audience could understand it.

As you can tell, this is not a haiku, or anything related to it. Rather, it is influenced by modern Japanese poets like Shoji Miyazawa. Much modern Japanese poetry is written in a more contemporary, "freestyle" form like this, though traditional forms of poetry are still very much alive. In general, Japanese poetry does not make use of rhyme, nor does it make use of what Western poets call "meter" based on syllables and stresses, though the traditional forms are well-known for the strict requirements it places on the number of morae in each line (Japanese is mora-timed rather than syllable timed). As such, this poem is given structure through the use of parallelism and repetition, as well as by the use of a volta halfway through the piece to signal a turn in its emotional content.