Two poems composed when lying in sickness, saddened by the ephemerality of life, and desiring to follow the Way.
うつせみは數なき身なり山川のさやけき見つつ道を尋ねな
| utusemi pa kazu naki mï nari yama kapa nö sayakëki mitutu miti wo tadune na |
This world of ours Is but a passing thing. A moutain stream’s Clean purity in my gaze, I would find the Way. |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi