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- Shika Wakashu
Mi no hodo o omoishirinuru koto nomi ya tsurenaki hito no nasake naruramu
Is the only kindness you, so cold to me, have ever shown that you made me realize my own humble place?
Wabitsutsu mo onaji miyako wa nagusameki tabine zo koi no kagiri narikeru
Though I pined for you, I found some comfort while we lived in the same capital; it is sleeping alone on a journey that is the very limit of love's pain.
Kaze o itami iwa utsu nami no onore nomi kudakete mono o omou koro kana
So fierce is the wind that the waves dashing on the rocks break apart alone; just so, I alone am shattered with longing in these days.
Shika Wakashu - Minamoto no Shigeyuki
Waga koi wa Yoshino no yama no oku nare ya omoiiredomo au hito mo nashi
Is my love the depths of the Yoshino mountains? However deeply my thoughts go into it, I meet no one there.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Akisue
Mune wa Fuji sode wa Kiyomi ga seki nare ya keburi mo nami mo tatanu hi zo naki
Is my breast Mount Fuji, and are my sleeves the barrier of Kiyomi? Not a day goes by without smoke and waves rising from them.
Itazura ni chitsuka kuchinishi nishikigi o nao korizuma ni omoitatsu kana
A thousand painted wands of nishikigi have rotted away in vain, and still, never learning my lesson, I resolve to set them up once more.
Yamazakura tsui ni saku beki mono naraba hito no kokoro o tsukusazaranamu
Mountain cherry, if you are bound to bloom in the end, I wish you would not wear out the heart of the one who waits for you.
Shika Wakashu - Dōmyō
Shimo okanu hito no kokoro wa utsuroite omogawari senu shiragiku no hana
Though no frost has touched it, your heart has faded and changed, while the white chrysanthemum keeps the same face even in the frost.
Shiragiku no kawaranu iro mo tanomarezu utsurowade yamu aki shi nakereba
Even the unchanging color of the white chrysanthemum cannot be trusted, for there has never been an autumn that ended without its fading; your heart too will tire of me in time.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kinzane
Kurenai no kozome no koromo ue ni kimu koi no namida no iro kakuru ya to
I will wear a robe dyed deep crimson on top, hoping it may hide the color of the tears I weep for love.
Shinoburedo namida zo shiruki kurenai ni mono omou sode wa somu bekarikeri
However I hide my love, my tears give it away; I should have dyed these sorrowing sleeves crimson from the start.
Shika Wakashu - Minamoto no Michinari
Kurenai ni namida no iro mo narinikeri kawaru wa hito no kokoro nomi ka wa
Even the color of my tears has turned to crimson; is it only your heart that changes? No, not only that.
Koishinamu mi koso omoeba oshikarane uki mo tsuraki mo hito no toga ka wa
When I think of it, this body that will die of love is no loss to me; is my sorrow or pain any fault of yours? No.
Tsurasa o ba kimi ni naraite shirinuru o ureshiki koto o tare ni towamashi
Bitterness I have learned from you and know all too well, but whom should I ask to teach me what joy is?
Shika Wakashu - Dōmyō
Ureshiki wa ikabakari ka wa omouramu uki wa mi ni shimu mono ni zo arikeru
How deeply people feel their joys, I cannot tell; but sorrow, I have found, is what sinks deep into one's very being.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Michinobu
Koisureba uki mi sae koso oshimarure onaji yo ni dani sumamu to omoeba
Being in love, I find even this unhappy life of mine precious, for I want at least to live in the same world as you.