In the sole town of a sole island
Forgotten in the vastness of the sea,
A god descended upon two siblings,
Brother Blue and Brother Green.

In each hand the god grasped a rice cake
Both a thousand feet long.
They were the remnants of life
All else would sing death’s swan song.

Brother Green rejoiced with malice
For the death of the people he despised,
But Brother Blue mourned those dear
Met their doom with sorrow in his eyes.

Brother Green waited in his abode
For the day of death to finally arrive.
Brother Blue couldn’t stay still,
His anxiety dispersed throughout his mind.

Brother Blue walked along the streets
Saying his final farewells to his friends,
But with a guilt-wracked brain he gave
Each a piece of rice cake from its ends.

He passed by a hungry beggar
Gave him a piece as well.
Brother Blue gave his fortune to all he met.
In the end, he only had a small piece for himself.

The next morning came, the last for most.
The townspeople celebrated their last breaths.
Together they ate their fragments of rice cake,
and at midnight, they all met their death.

However, a single man stood over the bodies.
Brother Green emerged from his hiding.
He snuck into the homes of the dead
For no law remained to be abiding.

He swiped clean all the jewels and gold
And took solace from their gleam,
But Brother Green soon realized
That affluence wasn’t as great as it seemed.

There were no mistresses to purchase
Nor any wares for him to buy,
But the thing he didn’t know he’d miss
Was the simple sound of passerby.

No longer could he bicker or argue
For even his brother had been killed.
Soon, Brother Green started to wish
That he too could’ve been lying still.

He tried to take his own life
But the god stopped his blade.
Brother Green thrust the rice cake in a fire,
But it returned to him unmaimed.

He tried to starve himself,
But the god forced rice cake down his throat.
Brother Green tried to devour the entire thing,
But each day, he was only allowed a foot.

All he could do was endure his sentence
A thousand days alone because of his avarice.
Thus is the story of the man, Brother Green,
disillusioned by the wealth of loneliness.