78 HEIAN PERIOD
- • •
Iro miede
Utsurou mono wa
Yo no naka no
Hito no kokoro no
Hana ni zo arikeru
|
A thing which fades
With no outward sign—
Is the flower
Of the heart of man
In this world!
|
[1]
Ono no Komachi (Ninth Century)
TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR WALEY
- • •
Ariake no
Tsurenaku mieshi
Wakare yori
Akatsuki bakari
Uki mono wa nashi
|
Since I left her,
Frigid as the setting moon,
There is nothing I loathe
As much as the light
Of dawn on the clouds.
|
Mibu no Tadamine (Ninth Century)
TRANSLATED BY KENNETH REXROTH
- • •
Hito ni awamu
Tsuki no naki yo wa
Omoiokite
Mune hashiri hi ni
Kokoro yakeori
|
This night of no moon
There is no way to meet him.
I rise in longing—
My breast pounds, a leaping flame,
My heart is consumed in fire.
|
Ono no Komachi
- • •
Omoitsutsu
Nureba ya hito no
Mietsuramu
Yume to shiriseba
Samezaramashi wo
|
Thinking about him
I slept, only to have him
Appear before me—
Had I known it was a dream,
I should never have wakened.
|
Ono no Komachi
- ↑ A famous poetess and subject of the Nō play “Sotoba Komachi” which appears on page 264.
