Ryu¯nosuke Akutagawa

Flowers of the Sal Tree

“Masks”

Frosty Night

Merchant Virgin Mary

Translated by Ryan Choi

Every botanical garden should have a Sal tree. The only time I was fortunate enough to see one was in the garden of the house of someone whose name I can’t recall—in the grass below the gem-like flowers there was a knotted porous limestone called a Taihu stone, from Donting Mountain in Suzhou. What became of the stone’s keeper is a mystery, except for the rumors that I hear on the wind of him being around but living simply.

It’s the water month again— Give voice to your grief. Flowers on the branches Of the Sal tree— Eyes of the melancholy.

May 1925