Cicadas' songs are blissful music of nature. I wake up every morning in summer to their pleasant choruses, work at the computer listening to their BGM, and cool myself after a little gardening in the shade of a tree which offers a temporary housing for them. Like many other Japanese, I love "semi-shigure (literally meaning cicada shower)" and never get tired of listening to it.
Cicadas' shells, however, make me a little sad. Whenever I find their cast-off shells, I feel like congratulating them on starting a new life after spending many years underground, but at the same time I feel sorry for them, remembering their end is only days away.
"Utsusemi" is a Japanese word for cicadas' shells. The poetic word has another meaning; this world and all the mortals living in it. After all, there isn't any difference between cicadas and me. I, too, am destined to die some day. All I can do in this fleeting life is to sing, like the cicadas in my garden, a song of life as beautifully as possible.
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