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- Gosen Wakashu
Ika ni shite kaku omou chō koto o dani hitozute narade kimi ni kataran
Somehow, at least this much—that I love you so—I long to tell you myself, and not through someone else.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Atsutada
Morotomo ni iza to iwazu wa shide no yama koyu tomo kosamu mono naranaku ni
If you will not say, "Come, let us go together," then even should you cross the Mountain of Death, I would never let you cross it alone.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Asatada
Kaku bakari fukaki iro ni mo utsurou o nao kimi kiku no hana to iwanan
This chrysanthemum has deepened into so rich a hue—so, even now, I wish you would call it the flower that "listens," and give ear to me at last.
Gosen Wakashu - Minamoto no Kiyokage
Isa ya mada hito no kokoro mo shiratsuyu no oku ni mo to ni mo sode nomi zo hitsu
Who can say? I still do not know your heart. Like white dew settling, whether I am inside the blinds or out, it is only my sleeves that are wet with tears.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yoru shio no michikuru sora mo omooezu au koto nami ni kaeru to omoeba
Like the tide that comes in, I hardly feel I am on the road at all—when I think that, with no chance to meet you, I am turning back like the waves.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kazu naranu mi wa yama no ha ni aranedomo ōku no tsuki o sugushitsuru kana
I am no mountain ridge, worthless as I am, yet like a ridge that sees so many moons pass over it, I have let so many months go by in waiting.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tanometsutsu awade toshi furu itsuwari ni korinu kokoro o hito wa shiranan
You keep me trusting, yet the years go by without our meeting—I wish you would know that my heart has not learned its lesson from your deceit.
Gosen Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Natsumushi no shiru shiru mayou omoi o ba korinu kanashi to tare ka mizaran
Like a summer moth that flies into the flame knowing it will burn—who would not look on such a love, never learning, as a sorry thing?
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Uchiwabite yobawamu koe ni yamabiko no kotaenu sora wa araji to zo omou
When I call out in my distress, I think there can be no sky where the echo would fail to answer my voice.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yamabiko no koe no manimani toiyukaba munashiki sora ni yuki ya kaeran
If I went seeking you, following only the voice of the echo, would I not reach an empty sky and come back with nothing?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Aratama no toshi no mitose wa utsusemi no munashiki ne o ya nakite kurasamu
Must I spend three whole years like this, crying out in vain, as empty as the shell a cicada leaves behind?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Nagareizuru namida no kawa no yukusue wa tsui ni aumi no umi to tanomamu
Wherever the river of my flowing tears may end, I will trust that at last it reaches the Lake of Omi—that I will be one who meets you.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ame furedo furanedo nururu waga sode no kakaru omoi ni kawakanu ya nazo
Rain or no rain, my sleeves are always wet. Why is it they will not dry, though I burn with such a fire of longing?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tsuyu bakari nururan sode no kawakanu wa kimi ga omoi no hodo ya sukunaki
If your sleeves, wet with no more than a drop of dew, still will not dry, is it not because the fire of your longing is so small?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tsune yori mo madou madou zo kaeritsuru au michi mo naki yado ni yukitsutsu
More than ever before, I came home lost and wandering, having gone to a house where there was no road that led to meeting you.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Nuretsutsu mo kuru to mieshi wa natsubiki no tebiki ni taenu ito ni ya ariken
When you used to come to me even soaked with rain, was it because your heart was like the summer-spun thread that does not break, however hard the hand draws it?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet