MYS XX: 4468

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

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