ギフト

本当にひさしぶりに、湯浅さんからメールが届いた。これはクリスマスプレゼントのようなもの。この美しい英語に、ぼくはただものも言えず、見とれているだけ。ありがとう。


Dear Mr. Mizushima,

I should have written before – when you sounded sad; when wild roses were　in bloom in Central Park; when you shared a moving thought with us on your　blog; when I fell in love with Shakespeare because Hamlet played in the　park, as a Manhattan skyline faded into summer dusk, was so ethereally　beautiful; when the class of 2008, your last students, graduated with so　much affection toward you; when a 14-billion dollar deal, on which I worked　for over a year, closed; when you began your new adventure, teaching what　you love to college students; when I walked across Brooklyn Bridge with my young colleagues on the first warm day of the year, feeling quite young myself; when your translation of an English poem was particularly good;when Lehman Brothers collapsed; when I learned that your father-in-law had passed away; when I spent one blissful week with old friends at their home in southern California overlooking the Pacific Ocean; when you were coping　with the void left by your father-in-law . . . . I should have written to　you before.

It has been snowing all day in New York City, and the City that has lost its confidence, feels unusually somber despite colors and lights, trimming windows, buildings, trees along the avenues and the 72-foot Norway spruce at Rockefeller Center. It is less than a week before Christmas, and it is　rather quiet. And for the first time in almost two years, I have time to　think thoughts not relating to my “deals” long enough – long enough　to actually write to you. I do not have one coherent thought, a theme, to write about after such a long absence.
So, I will just say I am very sorry that I did not write before.

Mashiho

(December 19, 2008)


ニューヨークのクリスマスの夜も、これまでとはずいぶんと違うものになりそうだ。ゆっくりと静養してください。来年もあなたにとっては激動の年なのだろうから、せめてこれからの休日だけはゆっくりと休んでください。

ありがとう。