The flower of the dead

Silent speech

Summer

Looking down, walking forward

Four years

Les Archives du Cœur (The Heart Archive)

Bird Lady calls me 御兄さん, oniisan (brother / young man).
I see her almost every morning near my apartment when I walk to Kyoto station. She stops to tell me how much she loves the birds and always comments on how cute they are.
Bird Lady tells me that she is 75 years old.
She wears bright red lipstick and her raven-black hair is heavily waxed back into a tight bun.
Instead of breadcrumbs she gives me handfuls of 黒あめ kuro ame (black sugar candy famous in Japan since the 1860's) from an old silk kimono bag. When I insist that she doesn't need to give me candy, she forces them into my bag or pocket.

I see her almost every morning near my apartment. She calls me 御兄さん and gives me black sugar candy. The birds follow her from the aquarium until she reaches the bridge that the しんかんせん　shinkansen (bullet train) runs over. From there she vanishes and I don't see her until the next day.