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- Shui Wakashu
Toshi furedo ika naru hito ka toko furite ai omou hito ni wakarezaruran
However the years go by, what sort of people are they who never part from the one they love, until their very bed grows old?
Shui Wakashu - Ōe no Tamemoto
Sumizome no koromo no sode wa kumo nare ya namida no ame no taezu fururan
Are the sleeves of my ink-black mourning robe clouds, then? Is that why the rain of my tears never stops falling?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ama to iedo ika naru ama no mi nareba ka yo ni ninu shio o tarewataruran
She has become a nun, yet what sort of fisherwoman must she be, that brine like no other in this world keeps streaming from her, as her tears?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yo no naka ni aramashikaba to omou hito naki ga ōku mo narinikeru kana
Of those I wish were still in this world, how many have now come to be among the dead!
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tameyori
Tsune naranu yo wa uki mi koso kanashikere sono kazu ni dani iraji to omoeba
In this world where nothing lasts, it is my own wretched self that is so sad, for I think I will not even be counted among those whom people wish were still alive.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kintō
Naki hito mo aru ga tsuraki o omou ni mo iro wakarenu wa namida narikeri
Thinking of my parent who has died, and of the coldness of one who is still alive, my tears cannot be told apart by their color.
Shui Wakashu - Ise
Utsukushi to omoishi imo o yume ni mite okite saguru ni naki zo kanashiki
I saw my dear wife in a dream, and when I woke and reached out for her, she was not there, and that is so sad.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Omoiyaru Kogoi no mori no shizuku ni wa yoso naru hito no sode mo nurekeri
When I think of the drops falling in the Forest of Kogoi, the forest of longing for a child, even my sleeves, though I am a stranger, are wet with tears.
Shui Wakashu - Kiyohara no Motosuke
Nayotake no waga ko no yo o ba shirazu shite ōshitatetsu to omoikeru kana
Not knowing my child's life would be as short as the joints of slender bamboo, I thought I had raised him to the full.
Shui Wakashu - Taira no Kanemori
Ware nomi ya kono yo wa uki to omoedomo kimi mo nageku to kiku zo kanashiki
I had wondered whether I alone found this world so sorrowful, yet to hear that you too are grieving is what makes me sad.
Shui Wakashu - Wife of Fujiwara no Tomomasa
Ukiyo ni wa aru mi mo ushi to nagekitsutsu namida nomi koso furu kokochi sure
In this sorrowful world, lamenting that even being alive is wretched, I feel that only my tears fall, as I pass my days in them.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Asateru
Shide no yama koete kitsuran hototogisu koishiki hito no ue kataranan
Cuckoo, you who must have crossed the Mountain of Death to come here, tell me how my beloved child is faring.
Shui Wakashu - Ise
Omou yori iu wa oroka ni narinureba tatoete iwan koto no ha zo naki
Whatever I say falls short of what I feel, so there are no words with which I could express it by comparison.
Shui Wakashu - Taira no Sadafun
Kouru ma ni toshi no kurenaba naki hito no wakare ya itodo tōku narinan
If the year should end while you go on longing for her, will your parting from the one who is gone come to seem farther away than ever?
Shui Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Ika ni sen shinobu no kusa mo tsumiwabinu katami to mieshi ko dani nakereba
What am I to do? I can hardly bring myself to pick the grass of remembrance, for not even the child who seemed her keepsake, not even a basket to hold it, is left.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Haru wa hana aki wa momiji to chirihatete tachikakurubeki ko no moto mo nashi
Blossoms in spring, colored leaves in autumn, all have fallen away, and now there is no tree beneath which I might shelter, no children left to me.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet