Composed when I was at a certain place and telling tales with sundry others before a lady’s curtains and heard a woman’s voice – one of her attendants, no doubt – say, ‘He seems to be strangely knowledgeable about matters of the heart for such an old man!’

あはれてふ事にしるしはなけれどもいはではえこそあらぬ物なれ

aFare teFu koto ni sirusi Fa nakeredomo iFade Fa e koso aranu mono nare

Of sensitivity Surface signs Are their none, yet Saying nothing, indeed, is What makes it plain!

Tsurayuki