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- Yamato Monogatari
Morotomo ni Ide no sato koso koishikere hitori ori uki yamabuki no hana
The village of Ide, where the two of us were together, is what I long for. It is bitter to break them alone — these yellow roses.
Ōzora mo tada naranu kana kannazuki ware nomi shita ni shigure to omoeba
The wide sky itself is not as it usually is, in the godless month — and I, only I, beneath it, raining my own cold rain.
Au koto no nami no shitagusa mikakurete shizugokoro naku ne koso nakarure
No meeting for us: like the grasses under the water, hidden by the waves, I have no quiet in me, and I cry aloud.
Sode o shimo kasazarishikado tanabata no akanu wakare ni hichinikeru kana
It was not that I lent my sleeves to anyone; and yet at that unsated Tanabata parting, they were soaked through.
Aki no yo o mate to tanomeshi koto no ha ni ima mo kakareru tsuyu no hakanasa
On the leaves of those words that bade me wait for the autumn nights, the dew still hangs — and how frail a thing it is.
Aki mo kozu tsuyu mo okanedo koto no ha wa waga tame ni koso iro kawarikere
No autumn has come and no dew has settled; and yet those words of yours have changed colour — for me, and for me only.
Nagakeku mo tanomikeru kana yo no naka o sode ni namida no kakaru mi o mote
How long I trusted it, this world — and with a body like this, one the tears kept falling upon.
Tsuyu shigemi kusa no tamoto o makura ni te kimi matsumushi no ne o nomi zo naku
The dew lies so thick that I pillow my head on sleeves gone grass-like; and like the pine cricket that waits for you, I do nothing but cry.
Mukashi yori omou kokoro wa arisoumi no hama no masago wa kazu mo shirarezu
Since long ago this heart of mine has been what it is; and the grains of sand on that rough shore have never been counted.
Karakushite oshimitometaru inochi mote au koto o sae yamamu to ya suru
With this life I have barely managed to hold on to, would you put an end to our meeting as well?
Morotomo ni iza to wa iwade Shide no yama nadoka wa hitori koemu to wa seshi
Without so much as saying, come, let us go together — why did you mean to cross the mountain of the dead alone?
Akatsuki wa naku yūtsuke no wabigoe ni otoranu ne o zo nakite kaerishi
At daybreak I went home, crying as I went, with a voice no less forlorn than the crying of the cock.
Akatsuki no nezame no mimi ni kikishikado tori yori hoka no koe wa sezariki
I heard with the ears of one woken at daybreak; and there was no voice at all, none but the bird's.
Osoku toku tsui ni sakikeru ume no hana ta ga ueokishi tane ni ka aruramu
Late or early, the plum blossoms have opened at last. Whose hand, I wonder, planted the seed?
Ikade kaku toshigiri mo senu tane mogana areyuku niwa no kage to tanomamu
How I wish for such a seed — one that will not fail from year to year, to be the shade I can trust in this garden going wild.
Hanazakari haru wa mi ni komu toshigiri mo sezu to iu tane wa oinu to ka kiku
When the flowers are at their height in spring I shall come and look at them, for I hear that the seed is up — the seed that comes to no end.