Please do not die, my little brother.

• Title : Please do not die, my little brother. A letter from a sister to her brother.
• Author : Yosano Akiko, 1904, September.
• Translation : Yamauchi Hitoshi
• Her other words (In Japanese)
• A page of original text in Japanese. This letter is also a beautiful poem in Japanese. If you know Japanese, please read it in Japanese.

Dear my little brother, 
I will cry for you. Please do not die.
Since you are the youngest child in my family, 
  you are the best child of your parents.
Did your parents teach you that take the gun and kill the others? 
Did your parents bring you up until twenty four years old for
  kill the people and die in the war?
Did your parents teach that?

Since you are the inheritor of my family in this city,
  please do not die in this war, my little brother.
It never matters that the enemy's city will destroyed or not.
You do not know this is not our family's wish.

Please do not die.
The emperors and noble people never show up in the battle field.
As your remembrancer, 
	spread others blood, 	
	die like the animals tao, or
	die in the battle field as your honor,
Are these words are really coming from the heart of human?

Oh my little brother, please do not die in the battle.  
Your mother is in lament. 
(Sorry, next line is not sure.)
Her husband is passed away, and the war takes her son. 
  She is keeping our house. 
We always heard our country is safe and in peace.
But, could you see how your mother's hairs are?

Please do not forget your young wife. 
She cried alone behind the door. 
You only spend ten month together. 
Please think about her. 
You are the only one for her. 
She could not imagine others. 
So, please do not die in the war.

Your sister,