We are Four
We were four.
And we are still four,
Though one disappeared from the official registry,
Though one corner of the meal table is empty,
Though a part of quartet is missing,
And though the harmony of our hymns is discordant.
We are four now.
We are still four.
Though a name is disappeared from the registry of the earth,
A name is added to the registry of the heaven.
Though there is an empty seat at every meal,
Three in rest became more familiar.
She lives in our heart.
One became the bond of love to unite three.
We are not in this way for ever.
We will be four as before,
When the trumpet of God sounds,
When all who were asleep rise,
When the Lord comes down to the earth again,
And when new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven.
Then we will be four again.
Rutsuko, Uchimura's daughter, died at the age of 18 in 1912. Uchimura made "We are Four" as an Ode to Rutsuko, after the manner of Wordsworth's "We are seven." Four means his family members, Kanzo himself, Shizuko his wife, Rutsuko his daughter, and Yusuke his son. The following picture shows from the left, Yusuke, Kanzo, Rutsuko, and Shizuko in 1910 at his home in Tokyo.
First Dream
Dew of grace dropped on the top of Mt. Fuji,
Trickled down to its foot and flowed over into two streams
One eastward and the other westward.The westward crossed the sea,
Washed the Mt. Paektu, soaked the Kunluns,
Watered the foot of the Tien Shan also of the Himalayas,
And ended in the wilderness of Judea.The eastward crossed the ocean,
Quenched the fire of gold worship at the foot of the Rockies,
Purified the Holy of Holies
On the banks of the Mississippi and the Hudson,
And submerged into the Atlantic.Seeing this,
Peaks of the Alps caroled with the morning star;
The Sahara desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose.Like water covered the ocean,
the knowledge of God filled the whole earth,
and the nations of this world became the Nation of Christ.Awakened from this dream,
I cried aloud alone,
"Amen. Thus be it.
You will be done on earth as in heaven."
Same as 3rd January of "A Day A Life." Uchimura made this dream and prophecy in 1907. The geographic locations are as follows:
