Ume stares out across the fields, the sky turning red behind the clouds, a cold breeze makes her shiver. She sees the orchards and the farms, and plucks her shamisen, a slow somber melody forms, and she sings a tale of sorrow, a tale her grandmother told her.
A peasant farmer sows the rice, the seeds are planted,
he tends the paddy field, and gives his woman a child,
The rice crop fails, their fates are sealed.
He steals so they can eat, the man becomes a criminal,
a judge decides the farmers fate, the man must die,
the woman weeps, she can not work the fields.
The farmer waits for dawn, his fate is sealed,
the samurai sharpens his sword, he is to end a life,
the farmer's flesh is cut as the woman births the child, their life blood flows.
