Note Regarding Order of Entries

The posts in the pages that follow are in this order:

May 2012: CAS Graduation—Kyle Harty Strang Spirit of CAS Award
May 2011: CAS Graduation—Kyle's loyal and loving CAS-mates move up.
March 2011: Two incredible articles that appeared in local newspapers
November: Lyrics of a beautiful song written for Kyle by Sarah Crews
July: Things shared on and around the 17th anniversary of Kyle's birth
June: Snippets of Facebook interchanges, end of school year pieces, and other things written to Kyle
May: CAS Memorial and misc. contributions received in May (in the order the comments were made)
April: Kyle's funeral and misc. contributions received in April (in the order the comments were made)
March 2010: Before Kyle's funeral and information about where to make donations in Kyle's memory

Because postings do not appear in the order they were posted, you will have to check the listing in the Blog Archive below to see whether there are posts you have not read, and then click on those posts.

If you made comments at one of the memorial events and/or if you have words about Kyle that you would like to post, send to: jbarber@berkeley.edu

Followers

Monday, April 5, 2010

From Tsuyoshi


Dear Craig, Persis, and Niko.

I could not believe it.
I want to believe it's not true.
I remember Kyle's genial greetings. 
very very sad. he was good boy.

All people will die in one life.
I will also die in the future. 
In Buddhism, a soul is living forever.
I think most important is praying and thinking for Kyle soul's living forever.
I will pray Kyle with you at every morning and evening.
I wish to express my sincerest sympathy to you.
Please accept my condolences on the loss of your son.

Tsuyoshi

This is web site of Kenji Miyazawa's poem. His famous poem "Don't defeated the rain". Japanese curtain is signed.
He had a sister died when he was teen. He wrote a poem about sister "Morning of Final Farewell"

Morning of Final Farewell
My little sister, 
About to depart to a place far beyond before the day is out. 
The sleet has fallen outside, and it's oddly bright. 
(Gemme some ameyuju willyoo Kenj'ya.)1
From the clouds of pale-red, that is all the more bleak, 
The sleet comes a-dripping and a-drizzling down
(Gemme me some ameyuju willyoo Kenj'ya.)
Gathering the sleet snow for you to nibble on,
Inside two chipped porcelain bowls with 
The junsai[water-shield]2 plant painted blue, 
I, like a stray bullet, 
Darted out into the dark of the [falling] sleet. 
(Gemme me some ameyuju willyoo Kenj'ya.)
From the bismuth-colored dark clouds, 
The sleet comes a-dripping and a-drizzling down. 
Oh Toshiko,
At a time like this, 
When you're on the brink of death, 
You have asked me for a scoop-full of refreshing snow, 
Thank you, my little sister, so giving and brave, 
I too will continue ahead straight onward. 
(Gemme some ameyuju willyoo, Kenj'ya)
In between the oh-so violent fevers and gasping, 
You asked me to get
The last bowl-ful of snow, descended from the skies, 
The realm of galaxies and suns and atmospheres...
.. Upon two quarry-blocks of granite, 
where the sleet are lonesomely deposited, 
I perched upon them precariously. 
And from the glistening pine-boughs 
Filled with cold transparent beads that maintain
The hoar-white, two-phase equilibria betwixt snow and water, 
I shall take away the last food for my little sister.
The indigo-colored patterns on the familiar bowls that
We grew up with, 
You'll be parted from them too, after today.
(Ora Orade Shitori egumo
[I'll just go off on my own I will])
It's true, you really are departing from us today, 
Oh, within the enclosure of the patient's room, 
On the other side of the dark folding-screen and mosquito nets, 
You are burning away with pale blue light, 
My little sister, so brave. 
This snow is so awfully pure-white, wherever you might choose. 
From those frightful, roiling skies, 
This beautiful snow has come. 
  (I'm gonna be born again, and 
    next time, I'll make sure everything won't be so bad 
      I hurt so muuuch all the time.) 
To those two bowl-fuls of snow you're eating, 
I will now pray, from my heart. 
Oh may this [snow] now turn into a heavenly ice cream 
Providing you and everyone holy sustenance. 
This I pray with all the ability I can muster.


Notes:
1 Inside the parentheses is the dialogue spoken Kenji's sister in a northeastern dialect, perhaps in somewhat of a kiddie language. I have attempted to replicate it by inventing an odd contraction gemme= get me, as a variant to gimme = give me. ameyuju is also a dialect for sleet. Kenj'ya is an affectionate way of addressing Kenji. It's hard for me to tell precisely, whether this corresponds to "Kenji-chan (Kenny)" or "Ken an-chan (brother Ken)". 
2 The water shield is a sort of miniature aquatic water-lily, with less conspicuous lavender flowers. The round leaves spread out afloat on the surface of water, but when these shoots are still young buds, they are covered in a gelatinous substance and are picked and eaten as a spring delicacy. Here, "blue" should be construed as the blue on white porcelain called gosu or sometsuke in Japan. 

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