Page:Fifteen Poets of Modern Japan - A Book of Translations (1928).pdf/29

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Akiko Yanagiwara

1

For love of the moon
The sea ebbs and flows.
How long their love endures!

2

When the rain falls,
You, toad,
Go dragging yourself slowly about.
You are one of the riddles of the universe.

3

For the sake of this dull life
All day long have I spoken lies
And listened to lies.

4

To the laws and conventions of man
I offer no word—
Only tears.