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- Gosen Wakashu
Utsutsu ni zo tou bekarikeru yume to nomi mayoishi hodo ya harukekariken
I should have come to you in waking life. While I wandered, thinking we could meet only in dreams, how far apart we must have been.
Gosen Wakashu - Emperor Daigo
Nagarete wa yuku kata mo nashi namidagawa waga mi no ura ya kagiri naruramu
My River of Tears flows on and has nowhere to go—could it be that the shore of my own self is where it ends?
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Chikane
Waga koi no kazu ni shi toraba shirotae no hama no masago mo tsukinu beranari
If my loves were to be counted, even the fine white sands of the beach would surely run out.
Gosen Wakashu - Ariwara no Muneyoshi
Namida ni mo omoi no kiyuru mono naraba ito kaku mune wa kogasazaramashi
If the fire of love could be put out even by tears, my heart would not be scorched so terribly as this.
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Shirushi naki omoi ya nazo to ashitazu no ne ni naku made ni awazu wabishiki
"What is the use of a longing that bears no fruit?" I cry aloud, like the crane among the reeds—so wretched is it not to meet you.
Gosen Wakashu - Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Tama no o no taete mijikaki inochi mote toshitsuki nagaki koi mo suru kana
With a life as short and easily broken as the cord that strings jewels, I carry on a love that spans long months and years.
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Ware nomi ya moete kienan yo to tomo ni omoi mo naranu Fuji no ne no goto
Must I alone burn and fade away, my love never fulfilled through all my days, like the peak of Mount Fuji forever smoldering?
Gosen Wakashu - Taira no Sadafun
Fuji no ne no moewataru tomo ikaga semu kechi koso shirane mizu naranu mi wa
Even if you burn on like the peak of Fuji, what can I do? I know no way to put out the fire, for I am not water.
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Menoto
Wabiwataru waga mi wa tsuyu o onajiku wa kimi ga kakine no kusa ni kienan
I, who go on grieving, am no more than the dew; if it must be so, let me vanish on the grasses by your fence.
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Mirume karu nagisa ya izuko augo nami tachiyoru kata mo shiranu waga mi wa
Where is the shore where the seaweed of meeting can be gathered? With no chance to meet you, I, like the waves, know of no place where I might draw near.
Gosen Wakashu - Ariwara no Motokata
Naruto yori sashiidasareshi fune yori mo ware zo yorube mo naki kokochi seshi
More than a boat thrust out through the straits of Naruto, it was I, shut out from the door called Naruto, who felt there was nowhere left to turn.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Shigemoto
Takasago no mine no shirakumo kakarikeru hito no kokoro o tanomikeru kana
Like the white clouds that hang upon the peak of Takasago, so changeable was the heart of the one I loved—and yet I trusted it.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yoso ni nomi matsu wa hakanaki Suminoe no yukite sae koso mimaku hoshikere
To wait only from afar, like the pines of Suminoe, is hollow; I long to see you so much that I would even go to you myself.
Gosen Wakashu - Emperor Daigo
Kagerō ni mishi bakari ni ya hamachidori yukue mo shiranu koi ni madowan
Having seen you only faintly, like a shimmer of heat haze, must I now wander like the plovers of the shore, lost in a love whose course I cannot know?
Gosen Wakashu - Minamoto no Hitoshi
Watatsumi no soko no arika wa shirinagara kazukite iran nami no ma zo naki
I know where it lies in the depths of the sea, yet the waves never pause long enough for me to dive in and reach it.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kanemochi
Tsurashi tomo omoi zo hatenu namidagawa nagarete hito o tanomu kokoro wa
I cannot bring myself to think you cruel: like the River of Tears flowing on, my heart goes on trusting that in time you will be mine.
Gosen Wakashu - Tachibana no Sanetoshi