Fire - Hagiwara Sakutarō

I saw fire burning red
like a beast
you keep silent and do not say.

In the quiet sky over the city in the evening
flames come out beautifully burning
in no time the flow spreads
in an instant destroys everything.
Burns up everything and all
assets, factories, great architecture
hope, honor, wealth and prestige, ambition.

Fire
how is it that like a beast
you keep silent and do not say?
Being trapped in sad melancholy
in so quiet a twilight sky
you think of all the passions.

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Hagiwara Sakutarō (1886 – 1942)
Translated by Hiraoki Sato