I thought I saw the Emperor today
Someone claimed he was mad, I think
That is not true! The gulls are screaming. We are all forgetting things. Why should he be different?
Not the Son of Heaven anymore. Are they gulls? They are not gulls. Ravens.
I can see the whole city, all of Otosan Uchi, from my window. That is not right. The city was once larger...was...
Is?
All of the world is like this--or is this all of the world?
Where are the streets I walked as a child? There is a man who speaks to the Emperor. The walls whisper. They move; the Shadows move. They call him Goju. I have a wife?
I grow weary of these shadows. I hear the Emperor scream. There are armies at the gates. Will my shadow grow tired of casting me?
The faces of the Imperial statues started to drift away...yesterday? Last month? Running my hands over the Emperor's faces, I feel only smooth stone. Which Hantei was this? Where is my wife?
A man I can't see touched the stones. He whispered, "Grandfather?" Was he speaking to the stones? Where is the Hantei?
Sotorii. Sotorii's brother? Did he have a brother? The Emperor had no other wives. The concubines?
Hantei. I can't remember his face.
We are--we are dying , from the inside out.