Guide Dog and Young Girl

Afternoon in a park
A three-wheeled scooter loaded with wheat
On the street next to the park
The engine revs and revs
Its long shadow next to the park
Has passed

In the shade of trees in the park
A young girl with a guide dog
Sits on a yellow bench
An old widow sits
On a big swing in the trees
Her grandchild is on a tricycle nearby
In a corner of the swing young people are looking at a pocket paperback

Two or three boys with dark suntans on their arms and legs are on a big pile of sand
Playing and making noise.

This is all
Like the pocket
Of a mother’s apron.

Source: Tokuji Suzuki’s collection of paintings: Proof of Life – From a Hansen’s Disease Sanatorium , (Koseisha, 2002).