New song with a twist

So the focus of this year has clearly turned away from Japan, and I feel somewhat remiss about this. I've been quite preoccupied with my music and playing gigs recently with Mike and Hiroe, but honestly not too busy to write about other stuff going on in my life. For example, I went to the Ise Shrine, which is the most sacred shrine in all of Japan and home to the Emperor's God, with a friend from Kyudo a few months back. I've also been reading some captivating literature comparing the fossil-fuel based industrial food industry and local/true organic farming. Thanks for The Omnivore's Dilemma, Sean. It could very well change my life in profound ways. I plan on writing more about these more when I can afford to purchase some reflective moments.

But for now, back to the music. I recently (actually just a week ago wrote what appears to be a perfect culmination to a year's worth of "one giant step for mankind". There could be controversy involved with such an grandiose claim, but I'm not listening because it's a waste of greenhouse gases.

This most recent song is called Forgotten. I wrote it with the idea in mind that the future of our humanity is too precious to be compromised by marginalizing underdeveloped voices. The Trees also lack a weighty voice in our currently technology-driven world-society, and subsequently are being driven from the face of the Earth in droves and thickets. As you can probably see, I have also included a Japanese translation. I actually submitted this song and translation recently to the Shiga Board of Education for our annual "JET Experience Essay". The aim of this aforementioned essay is to highlight we English teachers' experiences and life lessons acquired from our time in Japan; therefore I felt compelled to share my thoughts on the necessity of a holistic education so that we do not leave behind our future. Please enjoy and as always feel free to share your thoughts, concerns, and and typos you pick out because I don't edit my typing often if at all.

Forgotten　
Salem Willard

Though we may not wear your clothes,
we are not untidy,
growing up on our own we took what we could find,
sneaking on pantyhose in an empty house,
come on in you can see our underage secrets,

After school no one there we relied on imagination, time breeding intrigue,
so where we you to tell us the images were just fancy,
lies and pretend,
we made them up in twos and threes,

Though often abandoned we are not forgotten,
you are hearing us now,
though we fail and you scold us we are not forsaken,
we are building the earth

Come on down get in line it’s time to make an honest buck,
who’s teaching this anymore?
your sons hear your actions loud,
loudest, louder than your words,
their hands will carry your scars

Cause our lives are made on the theft of childhood,
they sew your feet, dig your gold, serve your needs
wasting away in foreign room upstairs,
when are you going to feed them some truth?

Though often abandoned you are not forgotten,
we are hearing you now,
though you fail and we scold us you are not forsaken,
you are building the earth

忘れられた子
（両親へ、子ども達より）
あなた達の服を着てないけれど、
僕らは決してだらしなくなんかない
自分でやって、自分で決めたように生きる、
誰もいない家でひそかに大人の服を着てみる、

そこで僕達の秘密が分かるさ、
放課後、誰もいない, 想像を駆使して、
時間は好奇心を生んでいる、
父、母、なぜ虚像は空想の嘘と言ってくれなかったかい？
いつも仲間としていたよ

僕らは見捨てられたが、忘れられていない、
今あなたに聞こえるはず、
失敗しても、しかられても、
僕らは見捨てられてなんかいない、
僕らは未来を育んでいる、

こっちへ来て、並んで、真面目に働こうか、
誰ももはやそれを教えてくれないだろう、
子どもはあなたの言葉より行動をよく聞いているんだよ、
この父にしてこの子あり

今日は盗まれた若さで作られている、
子ども達は人の足を編んだり、金を掘ったりしてあげている、
みんなの要求に答えるため、部屋から消えているのさ
いつ真実を与えてくれるのだろう、

（子どもへ、両親より）
「君達は見捨てられたが、忘れられてない、
今聞いている、
失敗しても、しかられても、
君は見捨てられてなんかいない、
未来を育んでいる。」