English translation of Terayama Shuji's poem "半分愛して", which is a beautiful but sad poem asking for less love, in order to achieve more self freedom. 

 

As a post-war activist, Terayama Shuji focused a lot on opposing traditional social and family regulations, and faught for freedom. At the same time, many of his poems are very romantic, which are always related to love, which is pronounced in the same way as "i". As a reader of the poem, I took away several "i" as a response. Because most of time, the longing for freedom is always because of the lack of love.

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