Night on the Milky Way Railway by Kenji Miyazawa

Author:Kenji Miyazawa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: poetry, japan, fantasy, fairytales, lotus sutra, japanese poetry, japanese fantasy, japanese literature, literature fiction short stories, japanese buddhism, fairytales for adults, japanese for kids, japanese folktale
Publisher: Little J Books

***********

"We are nearly at the Southern Cross. We get off here, so make yourselves ready," said the young man to the children.

"I want to stay on a bit longer," said the little boy.

Kaoru had a look of nervous excitement as she got to her feet and began making her preparations, but seemed reluctant to be leaving Giovanni and Campanella.

"We all have to get off here," said the young man, his voice unwavering as he looked down at the boy, his lips pursed tight.

"No. I want to go on a bit more."

"You can stay with us," said Giovanni, unable to resist any longer. "We've got a ticket that lets us go forever."

"But we have to get off here," said the girl sadly. "This is where we get off to go to Heaven."

"But you don't have to go to Heaven! My teacher told us that we have to create a place here that is better than Heaven."

"But Mama is already there, and it's what God says."

"That God is not a real God."

"Your God is not a real God!"

"That's not true."

"What kind of God is your God?" asked the young man with a smile.

"I don't really know; all I know is that there's only one real God."

"Yes, of course there is only one real God."

"No, what I mean is that there is only one true, real God.

'Yes, that's exactly right. I pray, that in future, we shall meet you both once more before that one true, real God," said the young man, placing his hands respectfully together. Kaoru did the same. The sorrow of parting showed in their faces that had now turned pale. Giovanni looked ready to burst out crying.

"Ok then, are you ready? We'll be arriving at Southern Cross any moment now."

And then it appeared. Way up ahead they could now see a cross, inlaid with blues, oranges and every color of light, standing like a shimmering tree all alone in the middle of the river; a pale-blue cloud circling above it like a halo.

Inside the train there was a great commotion. Everyone stood up straight and began to pray, just as they had at the Northern Cross. The carriage was filled with cries of joy - like children grabbing at pieces of watermelon - and deep moans of respect. The train gradually approached the cross, and now they could see that the circular pale-blue cloud, the same color as the flesh of those apples, was rotating, ever so gently.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah."

The joyful cries of the passengers reverberated throughout the train, and from far off in the sky; from far, far off in the cold distant sky, they heard the perfectly crisp, crystal clear sound of a trumpet. The train gradually slowed as it passed through a long series of signals and lights, finally coming to a stop directly in front of the cross.

"Right, here we go," said the young man, taking the hand of the little boy and walking towards the exit.

"Goodbye then," said the girl, turning to look at Giovanni and Campanella.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.