Toyohiko Kagawa adalah seorang Kristiani yang dilahirkan dari keluarga berada. Dia memutuskan untuk mengabdikan hidupnya menurut jalan yang telah Kristus tempuh di atas kayu salib bagi seluruh umat manusia. Dia mendedikasikan sepanjang hidupnya kepada kaum papa marjinal.
3 puisinya yang sangat terkenal diambil dari “Songs from the Slums”:
THE BURDEN
Take Thou the burden, Lord;
I am exhausted with this heavy load.
My tired hands tremble,
And I stumble, stumble
Along the way.
Oh, lead with Thine unfailing arm
Again today.
Unless Thou lead me, Lord,
The road I journey on is all too hard.
Through trust in Thee alone
Can I go on.
Yet not for self alone
Thus do I groan;
My people’s sorrows are the load I bear.
Lord, hear my prayer—
May Thy strong hand
Strike off all chains
That load my well-loved land.
God, draw her close to Thee!
PENNILESS
Penniless….
A while
Without food
I can live;
But it breaks my heart
To know
I cannot give.
Penniless….
I can share my rags,
But I—
I cannot bear to hear
Starved children cry.
Penniless….
And rain falls,
But trust is true.
Helpless, I wait to see
What God will do.
ONE GARMENT LEFT
I have no one
To make a garment
For me;
Nor yet
A garment to be made.
My clothes
Are soiled,
And torn,
And tattered.
On the streets,
The people stare at me
Each time I leave the slums.
But those who clothe themselves
In borrowed garb
Are like a crow
Wearing a peacock’s feathers—
Fools!
As for myself,
Bare legs,
Short shirt,
Sweatband in brow,
I gird me up
To move the world!
And when
I wash
My one poor garment,
Stiff with filth,
Naked,
I wait
For it to dry.
Naked,
I kneel
Down at the crossing
In the mud,
To weep
And pray.
Stripped thus of all that Thou hast given me,
Lord, I would give again my all to Thee!
Images Sources:
http://www.jesusband.jp/image/02_b.jpg
http://www.jesusband.jp/image/kagawa2_b.jpg
http://www.jesusband.jp/image/kagawa_b.jpg
