Lantern Rite … a festival of remembrance.
Useless … I don’t need a festival for that.
The devastating memories are with me every day.
But you …
You want to participate every year.
Not because you need a festival to remind you of what you have lost …
But because there is still hope in this sadness of yours.
A spark that must never burn out.
When they lit up the sky with their fragile glows of bittersweet grief
to reignite the memory of those who are gone …
Your spark travels across the sky among them.
And it carries your wish to reunite with the one you lost over the hills of this ancient land.
And maybe, since you’re here …
I want to participate, too.
Because with you
the sad memories of my lost companions
are mixed with the comforting memory of your hopeful eyes
while you look at this man-made starry sky.
So I will join you again this year.
Not only to save the hope within you.
But also to light up the darkness within me.
