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Habakeru

This poem centers on the Hokkaido dialect word “habakeru,” meaning “to overflow” or “to exceed what can be contained.”

By placing it in contrast with “habakaru” (to hesitate, to hold back), the poem explores how we navigate society and shape our way of living.

Do we kick against social constraints and step beyond them?

Or are we driven and restrained by social pressure?

Within this shifting balance, we continue searching for who we truly are.

To “habakeru” is to summon the energy to challenge possibility itself.

  

“Habakeru”

 

Unexpectedness is what makes it good.

Betraying expectations is what makes it interesting.

Not fitting into a mold is best of all.

 

Throw other people’s gossip into the gutter.

Know that other people’s reputations are inedible fare.

To hell with other people’s judgments.

 

An unfolding no one foresaw.

An outcome no one predicted.

An ending no one even sensed.

 

It is good to feel more than you can contain.

It is good not to be bound.

It is good to decide for yourself.

 

When you habakeru, the world changes.

When you habakaru, the world shrinks.

When you habakeru, you become free.

When you habakaru, you are entangled.

When you habakeru, you discover an unknown self.

When you habakaru, you see your own immaturity.

 

The breadth of a human life lies in the difference between keru and karu.

“Keru” means to kick away society’s interference.

It is good that the wit to kick back is always tested.

“Karu” means to be driven by society’s oppression.

It is nothing more than being pushed along after “reading the air.”

 

Habakeru and habakaru are arts of navigating the world.

Like the tilt of a balancing toy, they help you scent out your own way.

Habakeru and habakaru are arts of reading society.

Like the tilt of a balancing toy, they let you quickly grasp the moment.

Habakeru and habakaru are arts of surviving society.

Like the tilt of a balancing toy, they measure the timing of accelerator and brake.

 

To habakaru is to be forced into life’s self-restraint.

To habakeru is to challenge life’s possibilities.

To habakaru is to learn life’s risks.

To habakeru is to feel life’s depth.

 

By habakeru,

you learn what it means to live as yourself.

 

Note: “Karu” means to drive or press someone forward; to urge on and pursue.

 

※ “Habakeru” is a Hokkaido dialect word meaning not to fit or not to be contained. It requires energy to habakeru.

 

 

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