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- Gosen Wakashu
Taenuru to mireba ainuru shirakumo no ito ōyoso ni omowazu mo gana
Like white clouds that seem to break apart and then come together again, I wish I could think of you only in a passing, ordinary way.
Gosen Wakashu - Fifth Princess
Kyō soe ni kurezarame ya wa to omoedomo taenu wa hito no kokoro narikeri
I tell myself that this day, too, will surely come to an end, yet it is the human heart that cannot bear to wait until then.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Atsutada
Ito kakute yaminuru yori wa inazuma no hikari no ma ni mo kimi o miteshi ka
Rather than let it all end like this in darkness, I long to see you, even if only for the instant of a lightning flash.
Gosen Wakashu - Taifu
Itazura ni tachikaerinishi shiranami no nagori ni sode no hiru toki mo nashi
Like white waves that come in vain and turn back, I went home empty-handed, and in the lingering wake of it my sleeves never have a moment to dry.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Asatada
Nani ni ka wa sode no nururan shiranami no nagori arige mo mienu kokoro o
Why should your sleeves be wet? Your heart shows not the slightest trace of lingering, like the wake left by white waves.
Gosen Wakashu - Taifu
Chikaite mo nao omou ni wa makenikeri ta ga tame oshiki inochi naraneba
Though I swore never to see you again, I have lost to my love after all. For whose sake should I hold this life dear?
Gosen Wakashu - Kura no Naishi
Naniwame ni mitsu to wa nashi ni ashi no ne no yo no mijikakute akuru wabishisa
Though I never met her, the maid of Naniwa, the night, as short as the joints of a reed, has already ended—how dreary the dawn.
Gosen Wakashu - Ono no Michikaze
Kaerubeki kata mo oboezu namidagawa izure ka wataru asase naruran
I do not know which way to go home. In this river of tears, where is the shallow ford that I might cross?
Gosen Wakashu - Ono no Michikaze
Namidagawa ika naru se yori kaeriken minaruru mio mo ayashikarishi o
By what ford in the river of tears did you go home, I wonder, when even the familiar channel—even you, whom I know so well—seemed strange to me?
Gosen Wakashu - Taifu
Ikemizu no iiizuru koto no katakereba migomori nagara toshi zo henikeru
As pond water cannot easily flow out through its sluice, I found it hard to speak my love, and so, hidden as if under water, I have let the years go by.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Atsutada
Ise no umi ni asobu ama tomo narinishika nami kakiwakete mirume kazukamu
I wish I could become one of the divers who play on the sea of Ise. Then I would part the waves and dive for the mirume seaweed, and so win a chance to see you.
Gosen Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Oboroke no ama ya wa kazuku Ise no umi no nami takaki ura ni ouru mirume wa
Could any ordinary diver plunge down and gather it? Surely not—the mirume that grows in the bay of Ise, where the waves run high.
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Tsurashi to ya iihatete mashi shiratsuyu no hito ni kokoro wa okaji to omou o
Shall I say it outright, once and for all, that you are cruel? And yet, as white dew settles, I had meant never to let any distance settle in my heart toward you.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Nagaraeba hito no kokoro mo mirubeki ni tsuyu no inochi zo kanashikarikeru
If I could live on, I might yet see where that person's heart will turn; how sad it is that my life is as fleeting as the dew.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Hitori nuru toki wa mataruru tori no ne mo mare ni au yo wa wabishikarikeri
When I sleep alone I wait impatiently for the cock to crow, but on the rare nights when we meet, that same cry is bitter to hear.
Gosen Wakashu - Elder Sister of Ono no Komachi
Utsusemi no munashiku kara ni naru made mo wasuren to omou ware naranaku ni
Even until I become an empty husk, like the shell a cicada leaves behind, I am not one who would ever think of forgetting you.
Gosen Wakashu - Kiyohara no Fukayabu