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- Yamato Monogatari
Kakurenishi tsuki wa megurite idekuredo kage ni mo hito wa miezu zo arikeru
The moon that was hidden has come round and risen again; and even in its light she is nowhere to be seen.
Nugu o nomi kanashi to omoishi naki hito no katami no iro wa mata mo arikeri
I had thought the one sorrow was taking off my mourning; and here is another colour that keeps her memory too.
Ogurayama mine no momijiba kokoro araba ima hitotabi no miyuki matanamu
Autumn leaves on the peak of Ogura, if you have hearts at all, wait for one more imperial progress before you fall.
Chirinureba kuyashiki mono o Ōigawa kishi no yamabuki kyō sakari nari
Once they have scattered it will be too late to mind — and the yellow roses on the bank of the Ōi are at their height today.
Kuyashiku zo nochi ni awamu to chigirikeru kyō o kagiri to iwamashi mono o
How it galls me that we promised to meet again another day. I should have said that today was the last of it.
Yuku hito wa sono kami komu to iu mono o kokorobososhi ya kyō no wakare wa
One who goes away will say he means to come back by and by. And yet how forlorn a thing this parting is, today.
Momoshiki no tamoto no kazu wa mishikadomo wakite omoi no iro zo koishiki
Many were the sleeves I saw, and yet one alone — the colour of fire, the colour of longing — is dear to me.
Ama no kawa sora naru mono to kikishikado waga me no mae no namida narikeri
The River of Heaven, I had always heard, was a thing up in the sky. And it turns out to be the tears here before my eyes.
Yo o waburu namida nagarete hayaku tomo ama no kawa ni wa sa ya wa narubeki
Though the tears that come of finding the world hard should flow fast and faster still, should they turn so quickly into a river of heaven — into a nun?
Koishisa ni shinuru inochi o omoiidete tou hito araba nashi to kotaeyo
If anyone comes remembering the life that longing put an end to, and asks after me, tell them she is here no more.
Kara ni dani ware kitarite e tsuyu no mi no kieba tomo ni to chigiriokiteki
Then tell the body at least — tell it that I came. We promised that if these dew-lives of ours vanished, they would go together.
Sumizome no Kurama no yama ni iru hito wa tadoru tadoru mo kaeri kinanamu
You who went into the dark of Kurama in your ink-dyed robe: come back to me, groping your way if you must.
Karakushite omoiwasururu koishisa o utate nakitsuru uguisu no koe
The longing I had, with such trouble, almost put out of mind — and now how wretchedly the warbler calls, and brings it back.
Sate mo kimi wasurekerishika uguisu no naku ori nomi ya omoiizubeki
So you had forgotten me after all. Is it only when the warbler happens to call that I come into your mind?
Waga tame ni tsuraki hito o ba okinagara nani no tsumi naki yo o ya uramimu
Leaving aside the one who has been hard on me, why should I lay any blame on a world that has done nothing at all?
Ogi no ha no soyogu goto ni zo uramitsuru kaze ni utsurite tsuraki kokoro o
Each time the reed leaves rustle in the wind I have resented it — this hard heart of yours, turning whichever way the wind goes.