Composed on a picture of a man making his way through chrysanthemums, going to a wizard’s palace in the moutains.
ぬれてほす山ぢの菊のつゆのまにいつかちとせを我はへにけむ
nurete Fosu
yamadi no kiku no
tuyu no ma ni
itu ka titose wo
ware Fa Fenikemu | Drenched, then drying
On this mountain path with chrysanthemum
Dewdrops—in that little space
Has, somehow, a thousand years
Passed me by? |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師
Composed at a poetry competition at Prince Koresada’s house.
露ながらをりてかざさむきくの花おいせぬ秋のひさしかるべく
tuyu nagara
worite kazasamu
kiku no Fana
oi senu aki no
Fisasikarubeku |
Dew-dappled
Let us pluck and wear
Chrysanthemum blooms
That an Autumn of eternal youth
Should last forever! |
Ki no Tomonori
紀友則
A poem tied to a chrysanthemum before it was planted in someone’s garden.
うゑしうゑば秋なき時やさかざらむ花こそちらめねさへかれめや
uwe si uweba
aki naki toki ya
sakazaramu
Fana koso tirame
ne saFe kareme ya |
If well planted,
And Autumn came not
Would it still bloom-of course, it would!
And the flowers scatter
Were it to wither to the root? |
Ariwara no Narihira
在原業平
'Simply moving and elegant'