23 JANUARY 1988, Page 40

Scene of the Crime

Inside that house a wounded man is dying.

Of aluminium was the building built: Its window-frames were made triangular to counterbalance an intrinsic tilt.

A thin snow flutters down. A cherry-tree Blooms white as blue. In pitiful small bits The smashed glass scattered on the floorboards fits Its patient role of waiting to be proof.

In the first floor's Room To Let there's a metal chair; And a black cat's curled, like conscience, on the roof.

Hagiwara Sakutaro (1866-1942)

Translated from the Japanese by Graeme Wilson