One day in July, I rushed into a member’s home to attend a Soka Gakkai meeting. She [Kaneko] was the only one there. Outside, thunder resounded from near and far, but inside the quiet room, silence reigned. Perhaps I should attribute what happened next to my twenty-three-year-old brain cells, but I took a piece of paper lying nearby and penned a verse, which I handed to her.

Waiting out the storm,
Fiercely pounds my heart.
Is it leaping at the thought of the storm?
No, I know it beats strongly but only in secret.
Oh, my heart has found
In you a flowing fountain.
It seeks in you a blossoming flower.

我的心，迎着暴风雨；
我的心，在剧烈地跳动。
在暴风雨中跳动着的，
是我的心呀
啊，我在心里祈求，
在你的心里看到泉水，
在你心里开着花儿。