西条駅のホーム。点字ブロックの黄色い線を、夏草がやわらかく覆っていく。「黄色い線の内側へ」ではなく、いつか「緑の線の内側へお下がりください」と放送されそうな一枚。人の営みの隙間から顔を出す草に、村の自然の底力がのぞく。列車を待つひとときさえ、ここでは青々しい。
English
At Nishijo Station on the Shinonoi Line, summer grass is quietly reclaiming the platform. The tactile paving — that familiar yellow safety line — is vanishing beneath the green. You half expect the announcement to change with it: not “please stand behind the yellow line,” but “please stand behind the green one.” Here the countryside asserts itself through the smallest seams in daily life, grass pushing up between the paving stones with a stubborn, unhurried vigour. There is no rush, and no one to hurry you. Even waiting for a train turns green in Chikuhoku — a few idle minutes on a country platform, spent quietly turning over to the wild.
