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- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
Aki no uchi ni kuchihatenubeku kotowari no ame ni tare ka sode o karamashi
My sleeves seem about to rot away before autumn ends, soaked in the rain that the season brings as a matter of course; whose sleeves could I borrow?
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Izumi Shikibu
Madoromade aware ikuyo ni narinuran tada karigane o kiku waza ni shite
Without a moment's sleep—ah, how many nights has it been, with nothing to do but listen to the cries of the wild geese?
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Izumi Shikibu
Ware naranu hito mo sazo min nagatsuki no ariake no tsuki ni shikaji aware wa
Surely others besides me are gazing at it too; nothing can equal the deep beauty of the dawn moon of the ninth month.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Izumi Shikibu
Yoso nite mo onaji kokoro ni ariake no tsuki o miru ya to tare ni towamashi
Whom could I ask whether you, though far away, are watching this dawn moon with the same heart as mine?
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Izumi Shikibu
Aki no uchi wa kuchikeru mono o hito mo sa wa waga sode to nomi omoikeru kana
All through the autumn my sleeves were rotting with tears as well; did you think, then, that only your own sleeves were wasting away?
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Prince Atsumichi
Kienubeki tsuyu no inochi to omowazu wa hisashiki kiku ni kakari ya wa semu
If you did not think your life a drop of dew about to vanish, why would it cling, as dew clings, to the long-lived chrysanthemum?
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Prince Atsumichi
Madoromade kumoi no kari no ne o kiku wa kokorozukara no waza ni zo arikeru
Lying awake listening to the wild geese crying among the clouds turns out to be something of your own heart's making.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Prince Atsumichi
Ware naranu hito mo ariake no sora o nomi onaji kokoro ni nagamekeru kana
So someone besides me was also gazing only at the dawn sky, with a heart just the same as mine.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Prince Atsumichi
Yoso nite mo kimi bakari koso tsuki wa mime to omoite yukishi kesa zo kurushiki
Thinking that you alone, even far away, would surely be watching the moon, I went to you; and so this morning is painful to me.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Prince Atsumichi
Oshimaruru namida ni kage wa tomaranan kokoro mo shirazu aki wa yuku tomo
May your image at least stay mirrored in the tears I shed at parting, even if, like autumn, you go away heedless of my heart.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Izumi Shikibu
Kimi o okite izuchi yukuran ware dani mo ukiyo no naka ni shiite koso fure
Where could she be going, leaving you behind? Even I, in this sorrowful world, force myself to go on living.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Izumi Shikibu
Uchisutete tabi yuku hito wa sa mo araba are mata naki mono ni kimi shi omowaba
As for the one who leaves me behind and sets out on her journey, let her go, so long as you think of me as one beyond all others.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Prince Atsumichi
Shigure ni mo tsuyu ni mo arade nutaru yo wa ayashiku nururu tamakura no sode
Neither the winter showers nor the dew are to blame, yet on this night we lay together, how strangely wet it has become, the sleeve I gave you for a pillow.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Prince Atsumichi
Kesa no ma wa ima wa hinuran yume bakari nuru to mietsuru tamakura no sode
By this morning it must surely have dried, the sleeve that pillowed me, which seemed only as faintly wet as in a dream.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Izumi Shikibu
Yume bakari namida ni nuru to mitsuramedo hoshi zo kanetsuru tamakura no sode
You may have thought it wet with tears only as faintly as in a dream, yet I cannot dry the sleeve on which I pillowed you.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Prince Atsumichi
Tsuyu musubu michi no mani mani asaborake nurete zo kitsuru tamakura no sode
Along the dew-laden road, in the faint light of dawn, I came home with it soaked through, the sleeve on which I pillowed you.
Izumi Shikibu Nikki - Prince Atsumichi