A Poem: GAMAN

Just a short little ditty I wrote about being five.

Gaman*
Five year old sits on the kitchen chair
While mother razors unruly hair
To all his tears and sobbed despair
She whispers, “Gaman, Gaman.”

His head ends up a chawan bowl
to catch stray questions from his soul
“Why is hair cut, why must hair grow?”
She whispers, “Gaman, Gaman.”

*"Gaman” is a Japanese word that means “to endure, persist, or persevere - to do one’s best - in times of frustration and adversity.” It is a fundamental attitude in Japanese society, the source, perhaps, of all the contorted facial expressions and constipated cries of Kabuki theater. Interestingly enough, “Gaman” (as spelled, not pronounced) is also an old German word for “amusement,” and is the root for the modern word “game.” Which makes you wonder about some past cultural infection, because the Japanese seem to actually enjoy and entertain themselves by holding their farts in until they have an aneurysm (I’m Japanese, I should know).