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- Yamato Monogatari
Shiogama no ura ni wa ama ya taenikemu nado sunadori no miyuru toki naki
Have the fisher folk of Shiogama bay died out? Why is there never an hour when one sees anyone at the fishing?
Toshi o hete nurewataritsuru koromode o kyō no namida ni kuchi ya shinuramu
These sleeves of mine, wet through year after year — will today's tears be the ones that finally rot them away?
Wasuru ya to idete koshikado izuku ni mo usa wa hanarenu mono ni zo arikeru
I came away thinking I might forget. But wherever one goes, sorrow turns out to be a thing that will not let go.
Kimi o omoi namanamashi mi o yaku toki wa kemuri ōkaru mono ni zo arikeru
When I think of you and the fire takes this body, still green and living, there turns out to be a great deal of smoke.
Yo no naka no asaki se ni nomi nariyukeba kinō no fuji no hana to koso mire
Since the world turns to nothing but shallows now, I look at these blossoms and see in them yesterday's deep pool, yesterday's flowers.
Fuji no hana iro no asaku mo miyuru kana utsuroinikeru nagori narubeshi
The wisteria's colour looks pale to me now. This must be what remains after the blossom has already turned.
Omou chō kokoro wa koto ni arikeru o mukashi no hito ni nani o iikemu
This thing called loving turns out to be quite another matter than I supposed. Then what was it I used to say to those I knew before?
Yukusue no sukuse o shiranu kokoro ni wa kimi ni kagiri no mi to zo iikeru
To a heart that cannot know what lies ahead, the answer is plain enough: you said you were theirs and no one else's.
Sa mo koso wa mine no arashi wa arakarame nabikishi eda o uramite zo koshi
No doubt the storm along the peak was fierce enough. And yet it was the branch that bent before it that I came away resenting.
Wasuraru na wasure ya shinuru harugasumi kesa tachinagara chigiritsuru koto
Do not forget me; nor shall I forget. This morning, as the spring haze rose, we stood there and made our promise.
Tamadare no uchi to kakuru wa itodoshiku kage o miseji to omou narikeri
Withdrawing behind the jewelled blind means only this, and more so than ever: that you have made up your mind not to let me see you.
Nageki nomi shigeki miyama no hototogisu kogakure ite mo ne o nomi zo naku
The cuckoo in the deep hills, where nothing grows thick but grief — hidden among the branches, it does nothing but raise its voice.
Shine tote ya tori mo aezu wa yarawaruru ito ikigataki kokochi koso sure
Do you mean me to die? Driven off before I can so much as gather myself — I can hardly go, and hardly live, feeling as I do.
Ware wa sa wa yuki furu sora ni kiene to ya tachikaeredomo akenu itado wa
So I am to vanish into the snowing sky, is that it? I have come back, and the plank door does not open.
Sayo fukete inaōsedori no nakikeru o kimi ga tataku to omoikeru kana
Deep in the night the rice-bearing bird was calling, and I took it for the sound of your hand at my door.
Kimi o omou hima naki yado to omoedomo koyoi no ame wa moranu ma zo naki
I had thought this house had no gap left in it, so full was it of thinking of you. Yet tonight's rain finds no part of it that stays dry.