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- Gosen Wakashu
Saoshika no koe takasago ni kikoeshi wa tsuma naki toki no ne ni koso arikere
The stag's voice rang out high over Takasago, but that was only the cry of the days when he had no mate.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Seki mo aezu namida no kawa no se o hayami kakaran mono to omoi ya wa seshi
The river of my tears runs so swiftly through its shallows that nothing can hold it back; did I ever imagine it would come to this?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Se o hayami taezu nagaruru mizu yori mo taesenu mono wa koi ni zo arikeru
More ceaseless than the water that runs unbroken through the swift shallows, I have found, is love.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kouredomo au yo naki mi wa wasuregusa yumeji ni sae ya oishigeruran
Though I long for you, I have no night of meeting; has forgetting-grass grown so thick that it covers even the path of dreams?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yo no naka no uki wa nabete mo nakarikeri tanomu kagiri zo uramirarekeru
I have found that the griefs of this world do not lie everywhere alike; it is only the ones I rely on that I cannot help resenting.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yūsareba omoi zo shigeki matsu hito no komu ya koji ya no sadame nakereba
As evening comes on, my thoughts grow thick, for there is no telling whether the one I wait for will come or not.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Itowarete kaeri koshiji no shirayama wa iranu ni mayou mono ni zo arikeru
Spurned, I came back along the road of Koshi, and found that Shirayama is a mountain where one loses one's way without ever entering it.
Gosen Wakashu - Minamoto no Yoshi
Hitonami ni aranu waga mi wa naniwa naru ashi no ne nomi zo shita ni nakaruru
I am not like other people, and like the reeds of Naniwa whose roots run hidden under the water, I can only weep in secret.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Shirakumo no yukubeki yama wa sadamarazu omou kata ni mo kaze wa yosenan
The white clouds have no fixed mountain they must go to; may the wind at least drive them toward the one I long for.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yo no naka ni nao ariake no tsuki nakute yami ni mayou o towanu tsurashi na
I still linger on in this world, but with no moon of dawn to light me I wander lost in the dark; how cruel of you not to come to me.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Asukagawa sekite todomuru mono naraba fuchise ni naru to nado ka iwaren
If one could dam the Asuka River and hold its current still, why would anyone ever say that its deeps turn into shallows?
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tokihira
Mi o tsumeba aware to zo omou hatsuyuki no furinuru koto mo tare ni iwamashi
When I pinch myself and think on it, how sad it seems: to whom am I to tell that the first snow has fallen, and that I too have grown old?
Gosen Wakashu - Ukon
Fuyu naredo kimi ga kakio ni sakikereba mube tokonatsu ni koishikarikeri
Though it is winter, this flower bloomed by your fence; no wonder, then, that like its name, ever-summer, it makes me long for you always.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Shirayuki no kesa wa tsumoreru omoi kana awade furu yo no hodo mo henaku ni
Like the white snow, my longing has piled up deep this morning, though the nights we have spent apart while it fell have been but few.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Shirayuki no tsumoru omoi mo tanomarezu haru yori nochi wa araji to omoeba
I cannot trust your longing, though it piles up like white snow, for I think that once spring comes it will be gone.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Waga koishi kimi ga atari o hanareneba furu shirayuki mo sora ni kiyuran
Since my love never leaves the place where you are, even the white snow that falls there must melt away in the sky before it settles.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet