子弹列车飞驰，
我的梦想却未在飞
我手里的咖啡
飘香
对面的男子
昏睡
但我希望他——
家里飘饭香
温柔妻子在等待
他疲惫的身子
却有快乐心灵
一天的开始
无需这咖啡
这天的结束
他心灵满足
无需那居眠——
我无需那飘渺梦想——
The bullet train hurtles forward,
Yet my dreams are stalled,
never taking flight。
The coffee in my hands
ends up its fragrance.
The man across from me
sinks into deep sleep.
But I hope for him—
that his home is fragrant with dinner,
with a gentle wife waiting there.
May his weary body
hold a joyful soul.
Let the day’s beginning
have no need for this coffee.
Let this day’s ending
find his soul so satisfied,
he has no need for that inemuri—
I have no need for that elusive dream—
Note: Inemuri (居眠り) is the Japanese practice of sleeping on the job or during a commute, symbolizing the deep, honorable exhaustion of a long day’s work.
Tilixia Summer is a writer based in Sabah, Malaysia, who finds inspiration in the quiet, fleeting moments of everyday life. Though not Japanese herself, she holds a deep, empathetic curiosity for the cultural phenomenon of “inemuri”—a practice that, in her eyes, represents a shared, honorable exhaustion across borders.
This poem is a revised, poetic adaptation of lyrics I previously shared on the Renjian Community (人间社区) platform.