half ghost half demon he squandered his remaining days alone roaming, in his inimitable cadence, the mountains and valleys of Kansai region he loved but once and his sharp blade took her life, even as she saved his — a consequence of grief, blindness, and fate in his arms she perished like a camellia in the snow the nobility of her heart harbouring till the very end a scarlet, blossoming love for the man she at first sought to kill and killing was his gift to the empire we remember and the reason both survive [11-VIII-2021]