The Tale of K
Natalie Fock
He taught me Japanese, once,
whirring fans, the heat of the city, clicking of pens—
many years ago. Perhaps twice,
when I last waved him off
after tea at a cat-themed al fresco cafe,
hailing from an equally bustling Tokyo.
(I had forgotten where he was leaving for.)
I haven’t seen him since,
and I’m still horrible with 敬語,
but I’m certain that he was happiest then.
once, when he first announced departure,
and twice, when asked about his closed distance.
In the washing of the city, he was a:
scholar turned soloist,
sojourner turned settler,
lover turned lover.
These are all the things he sought and should have found, I hope
he is alright.
He is alright, he says, the third time I checked in since.
Barring the fact that he was retrenched,
or that it was unexpectedly soon,
or even that he might lose his visa,
or, in my shameful assumption, that he was stuck in a dead-end job,
just like he was here.
“Just like home”,
I pictured him saying, again forgetting that it was here
that was「しばらく」to him,
not over there, where his greatest love
was but a train ride away.
But, he is alright,
and I know this not out of hope,
but out of acknowledgement of a man so in love.
I know this is love because despite everything,
he claims to know nothing of this city sprawled before him,
only that it is invigorating and infuriating all the same.
For many, Vienna is the city of dreams, and maybe Mumbai too,
but for one man, I’m certain,
it has always been
Tokyo, Japan.
Nat lives in sunny Singapore where heat takes on a sword and swings it around dangerously, just like she did during fencing classes as a child. Currently studying Law in the UK, she spends her time learning and exploring. Besides searching for the best matcha desserts, Nat also believes in the potential of ASEAN youth and seeks to form lasting connections between them by tinkering with @youthmodelASEANx, a non-profit. On good or particularly whiny days, she tends to @priposte with blobs of writing in search of catharsis. Her work has previously been featured in the Singapore Poetry Festival's "Catharsis" and Poetically Magazine.
