Reflections on Ozu's Tokyo Story

For Fumiko, Noriko, and Kyoko A loving daughter's gaze Another day lost in time forever gone and ever-present The departing train leaves a dissolving black cloud Both gone The mother and the sister she never had On forged rails of steel that offer no return the other daughter gifted by fate holds the mother's watch In anguished reminiscence the time-piece ticks away in eternity as she smiles the smile of loss and regret Why did she leave us? Three women in boundless love blossomed in cruel obscurity and exquisite meaninglessness The mother is gone forever and the daughters lost to each other in Time's imperative The towers of industry billow their smoke to the boundless indifferent sky while the agony and the ecstasy of aloneness and sweet regret fade into the abyss of the past The ships ply the harbour their engines rhythmically echoing the aching heartbeat of a lonely old man