Life's Dialogue by Natsume Soseki
Life's Dialogue
by Natsume Soseki
Out of hope and despair,
Man twists the rope of life,
As beautiful and fair,
As born of passion and strife.
He twists and twists and
twists.
Forever twisting he dies,
Then his eyes are glazed with mists,
Then cold and naked he lies.
The rope of life is not
The rope of sand; ‘tis long,
‘Tis strong, ‘tis
knotty. ‘tis hot.
Let man cling to it right or wrong,
Let man cling and cling and cling,
Forever cling go,
Till the funeral bell we ring
To call him away ho ho!
MY INTERPRETATION
Spirit One
Human beings endlessly make an effort to create changes in life: sometimes out of hope and sometimes out of despair. Whatever reason for that change, it is aimed for the "better". Unfortunately, never leads to satisfaction, but it is repeated until death. Only in deathbed, we finally realize how empty the chase for the "better" is.
Spirit Two
Looking at one of Soseki's major themes in his writings (pessimistic view of human nature), it can be seen that he is viewing human life as something small, fragile, insignifican yet ironically, human beings cling to it. We cling to it even if our lives are miserable. Human beings fight to stay alive, striving to stay alive no matter how painful it is. It does not matter whether if they are a criminal or a honorable person, everyone shares this similarity, this refusal to let go of life. Only death can separate human beings from this clinginess to life.