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- Gosen Wakashu
Uramu tomo kakete koso mime karakoromo mi ni narenureba furinu to ka kiku
Even if you resent me, I will keep you hung on my heart and only look, like a Chinese robe on its rack—for they say that once a robe settles on the body, it soon grows old.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Nagekedomo kai nakarikeri yo no naka ni nani ni kuyashiku omoisomeken
Grieving does no good at all. Why, in this world, did I ever begin to love in a way I would come to regret?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Konu hito o matsu no e ni furu shirayuki no kie koso kaere kuyuru omoi ni
Waiting for one who does not come, I melt away entirely like the white snow on the branches of the pine, consumed by the smoldering fire of regret.
Gosen Wakashu - Shōkyōden no Chūnagon
Kiku no hana utsuru kokoro o oku shimo ni kaerinubeku mo omoyuru kana
Like a chrysanthemum whose color shifts with the settling frost, your changed heart seems as though it might turn back again to what it was.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ima wa tote utsurihatenishi kiku no hana kaeru iro o ba tare ka mirubeki
The chrysanthemum that has faded completely, saying this is the end—who would ever look upon its color turning back again?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Nagame shite mori mo wabinuru hitome kana itsuka kumoma no aran to suran
Through the long rains I brood, worn out by watchful eyes that guard you as rain leaks through the roof. When will there ever be a break in the clouds?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Onajiku wa kimi to narabi no ike ni koso mi o nagetsu tomo hito ni kikaseme
If I must die anyway, then let people hear that I threw myself into Narabi Pond—side by side with you.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kagerō no honomekitsureba yūgure no yume ka to nomi zo mi o tadoritsuru
You appeared to me as faintly as a shimmering haze, and thinking it must be an evening dream, I could only grope to know whether I was awake.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Honomite mo menarenikeri to kiku kara ni fushikaeri koso shinamahoshikere
As soon as I heard you say that even a faint glimpse had made you tire of me, I wanted to throw myself down, writhe, and die.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Aumi chō kata no shirube mo eteshi kana mirume naki koto yukite uramin
If only I could find a guide toward Ōmi, the land of meeting. Then I would go there and grieve, as one gazes at a bay without seaweed, that I have no chance to see you.
Gosen Wakashu - Minamoto no Yoshi
Ausaka no seki to moraruru ware nareba aumi chōran kata mo shirarezu
I am guarded as closely as the Barrier of Meeting Hill, so I cannot even tell which way lies Ōmi, the land of meeting you speak of.
Gosen Wakashu - Daughter of Harusumi no Yoshitada
Ashihiki no yamashitamizu no kogakurete tagitsu kokoro o seki zo kanetsuru
Like the stream beneath the mountain that flows hidden among the trees, my heart surges in secret, and I cannot hold it back.
Gosen Wakashu - Minamoto no Yoshi
Kogakurete tagitsu yamamizu izure ka wa me ni shimo miyuru oto ni koso kike
The mountain waters rushing hidden among the trees—which of them can be seen with the eyes? I only hear their sound, as I only hear of your love.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Akatsuki no nakaramashikaba shiratsuyu no okite wabishiki wakare semashi ya
If there were no such thing as dawn, would I ever have to rise like the settling white dew and part from you so sadly?
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Okite yuku hito no kokoro o shiratsuyu no ware koso mazu wa omoikienure
Not knowing the heart of the one who rises and leaves, it is I who, like the white dew, have faded away in sorrow first.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Takasago no matsu to iitsutsu toshi o hete kawaranu iro to kikaba tanomamu
You keep saying you wait like the pine of Takasago as the years go by. If I hear that your color, like the pine's, has never changed, then I will trust you.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet