Sawako Nakayasu
Large & Ladybug
Large & Ladybug
ラージ & テントウムシ
Once upon a time, 丁度今頃の時期に,
as in today, 丁度今頃の時間に,
and place, as in China, 友達とここで会う約束をしてたのに,
there exists an ant 街角のどっち側と決めるのを
who for unknown reasons grows to be extraordinarily large, 忘れてしまって,
who dreams of moving to the United States, それでも友達の顔は
or anywhere, 見慣れてるので
where the ants are supposedly bigger 別に問題があるはずではないのに,
if only there existed a suitable means of transport ‒ どうしてもどこにも 見当たらない.
who dreams of going to the Olympics in some foreign country, そのへんの店の人に聞いてもしらない,
not so much て言われるし
out of a desire to compete athletically よくよく探してみるけど見当た らない.
(all that attention and pressure would be much too much),
でも幸いにいまどき東京では but only because it would involve
皆携帯電話を持っているので
a ticket out of this place, 丁度その時に彼女から電話がかかってきて,
to anywhere but here 後ろ向いてごらん,
‒ who keeps growing bigger still, て言われるから振り返っても
big enough, in fact, so as to one day be able to やはり見つからなくて,
straddle large bodies of water, so that it might, 下向いてごらん,
for example, plant a few legs in China, と言われるけど
drop one or two in Korea, それでも見つからなくて,
and then with a stretch, いや,
land each of the front legs on a Japanese island or two, その地面にある
the impact of which てんとう虫の群れの下にいるのよ,
causes a more-than-minor earthquake, て言われて
spreading fear and panic throughout the land, もうなんとも言えないんだけど
drawing mean glances 彼女は楽しいよ,
from the local normal-sized ants of Japan, Korea, and China, おいでよ,
none of whom are aware というんだけど
that oversized, 私はそのまま引き返って
gigantic ants 残念ながら
are the それが私たちの
loneliest ants of all 友情の終わりだった.
