Classic Poem

What I heard before the declaration of war
was that there was a battle near Hawaii.
At last we're going to fight in the Pacific.
Listening to the Imperial Proclamation, I trembled.
At this grave moment
my brains were distilled by an alembic,
yesterday became a remote past,
the remote past became now.
The Emperor in danger:
that phrase alone
determined everything for me.
The childhood grandfather was there,
father and mother were there.
The family clouds and mists of my boyhood days
rose and filled my room.
My ears were crammed with ancestors' voices:
His Majesty! His Majesty!
my consciousness panted, reeled.
Now I can only give myself up.
I'll protect His Majesty.
I'll give up the poetic and write poems.
I'll write a record.
I'll prevent the wastage of compatriots, if possible.
That night, in Komagome Heights where Jupiter shone large,
simply, seriously, so did I decide.