Only yesterday
we planted the tender rice—
yet before I knew,
the rice leaves sway in the fields,
and autumn winds begin to blow.
- Meaning
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Only yesterday we planted the young rice seedlings, yet before we knew it, the rice leaves sway and the autumn wind has begun to blow.
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
The poem depicts an early autumn rural scene, while also expressing the swiftness of seasonal change and the passage of time.
The opening lines, describing the planting of rice seedlings, evoke a sense of human activity and labor.
- Author
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Unknown Poet
- Source
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Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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The river wind now
blows with a coolness—perhaps
with the rising waves,
along with their surging, too,
autumn itself comes to stand?
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My beloved’s robe—
its hem turned back by the wind;
how strangely it blows,
the first wind of autumn
that comes upon us now.
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From the day it blew,
the autumn wind began to stir—
since that time, never
is there a day I do not stand
by the banks of Heaven’s River.
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By Heaven’s River,
you who keep the ferry there—
if he crosses once,
then hide away the oar, I pray,
and do not let him return.