Topic unknown.
さびしさに煙をだにもたゝじとて柴折りくぶる冬の山里
sabisisa ni
keburi wo dani mo
tatazi tote
siba worikuburu
Fuyu no yamazato |
In loneliness,
That the smoke at least
Will not desert me
I gather brushwood and feed the flames
In this winter mountain home. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Composed when sunk in thought after having gone to a mountain retreat for a short while.
なにしかは人も來てみんいとゞしくもの思ひまさる秋の山里
nani si ka Fa
Fito mo kite min
itodosiku
mono’omoFi masaru
aki no yamazato |
For what
Would folk come visiting?
Even deeper
Into gloom would fall
This mountain hold in Autumn. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Composed on bellflowers.
ありとてもたのむべきかは世の中を知らする物は朝顏の花
ari tote mo
tanomubeki ka Fa
yo no naka wo
sirasuru mono Fa
asagaFo no Fana |
‘Now, we truly live,’ you say yet
How can I be certain?
This fleeting world
Is is well-known to
The bellflowers. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Attached to a sprig of bush clover and sent to someone towards the end of the Eighth Month.
かぎりあらん仲はゝかなくなりぬらん露けき萩の上をだにとへ
kagiri aran
naka Fa Fakanaku
narinuran
tuyukeki hagi no
uFe wo dani toFe |
There comes an end
To us-how brief
It seems;
Dew-drenched, this bush clover:
If only you would ask it! |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Topic unknown.
晴れずのみものぞ悲しき秋霧は心のうちに立つにやあるらん
Farezu nomi
mono zo kanasiki
akigiri Fa
kokoro no uti ni
tatu ni ya aruran |
There is no lightening, all
Is simply sadness;
The autumn mists
Within my heart,
Rise-is that it, I wonder? |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Composed on the first day of the Fourth Month.
櫻いろにそめし衣をぬぎかへてやま郭公けふよりぞまつ
sakura iro ni
somesi koromo wo
nugikaFete
yama Fototogisu
keFu yori zo matu |
Pale pink cherry
Coloured clothes
I put aside and
The mountain cuckoo
Await from this day. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Composed on azaleas.
岩つゝじをりもてぞ見るせこが着し紅ぞめの色に似たれば
iFa tutuzi
wori mote zo miru
seko ga kisi
kurenawizome no
iro ni nitareba |
Azaleas ’twixt the rocks:
Plucked, held and gazed upon;
My darling wore
Dark crimson
Colours, such as these. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Composed when cherry blossom was falling profusely in her garden.
風だにも吹き拂はずば庭櫻ちるともはるのうちはみてまし
kaze dani mo
Fuki FaraFazuba
niFazakura
tiru tomo Faru no
uti Fa mitemasi |
AIf the wind, at least,
Does not blow clean
My garden cherries,
Fall they may, but while Spring
Lasts, I would gaze upon them. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Topic unknown.
我が宿の櫻はかひもなかりけり主人からこそ人も見にくれ
wa ga yado no
sakura Fa kaFi mo
nakarikeri
aruzi kara koso
Fito mo mi ni kure |
At my house
For cherries to bloom
Is pointless;
It is their mistress
That folk come to see! |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Topic unknown.
人も見ぬ宿に櫻を植ゑたれば花もて窶す身とぞ成りぬる
Fito mo minu
yado ni sakura wo
uwetareba
Fana mote yatusu
mi to zo narinuru |
No one at all sees
This house with cherries
Planted, so
The blossoms must
Have made me seedy! |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
'Simply moving and elegant'