While I was working at a company,
I was harassed by those in power for years
and was retrenched from the company.
I was hurt both physically and mentally.

One day, Mom said:
Don’t be hurt so much,
as there is a Blessing in disguise;
fortune and misfortune are
like the twisted strands of yarn.

More than 20 years passed,
and after Mom’s passing,
my mental illness disappeared.
I thought Mom had taken it away,
and noticed that there is a power
which can turn misfortune into fortune.

Physical illness, as with aging,
may not be conquered,
but is to be accepted.
If accepted with gratitude,
a healing may be given.

Thanks to illness and aging,
One’s outlook can be changed.
What was not seen before
(while young and green)
may appear in front of us.

“Growing old means
seeing God more closely”
as it is often said.
Getting ill might mean
seeing God more closely as well.

As there is a Blessing in Disguise.
(Mar. 27, 2021)

Teruko Yamakawa (translator)