While she was waiting eagerly for a man who had promised to come, she heard hailstones falling upon the bamboo leaves before her and composed:
竹の葉に霰ふるよはさらさらに獨はぬべき心地こそせね
| take no Fa ni arare Furu yo Fa sarasara ni Fitori Fa nubeki kokoti koso sene |
Among the bamboo leaves The hailstones fall With such a roar that To sleep alone, indeed, Is something I don’t want at all! |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
On a night when the moon was shining especially brightly, a man came to see her and left without even sitting down; the following morning she sent him this poem.
涙さへ出でにし方を眺めつゝ心にもあらぬ月を見しかな
| namida saFe idenisi kata wo nagametutu kokoro ni mo aranu tuki wo misi kana |
In tears, yes, On the way you left I have kept my gaze; Unexpectedly the moon Came into view. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
When she was taken to Tango by Fujiwara no Yasumasa, she sent this to a man she had been seeing in secret.
我のみや思ひをこせむあぢきなく人はゆくゑも知らぬものゆへ
| ware nomi ya omoFi wokosemu adikinaku Fito Fa yukuwe mo siranu mono yuFe |
Is it only I Who will hold you in my thoughts? How terrible, That you, my destination Should not know at all. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
After Michisada had abandoned her, and gone to be governor of Michinoku, she sent him this.
もろともにたゝましものを陸奧の衣の關をよそにきくかな
| morotomo ni tatamasi mono wo mitinoku no koromo no seki wo yoso ni kiku kana |
Together Would we once have cut our way; but Of Michinoku’s Garment-the Barrier of Koromo– I hear from another. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
After Koshikibu no Naishi had died, Izumi Shikibu had several robes which Empress Jōtōmon’in [Shōshi] had given her daughter over the years as keepsakes; when she saw notes she had made with Koshikibu, she composed:
諸共に苔の下には朽ちずして埋もれぬ名をみるぞ悲しき
| morotomo ni koke no sita ni Fa kutizu site udumorenu na wo miru zo kanasiki |
With her Beneath the moss Imperishable, and Of high renown, her name: To see it is a bitter grief. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Once when Izumi Shikbu was on her way to Ishiyama, she stopped in Ōtsu; late at night she sensed a crowd of people nearby making an enormous amount of noise. On enquiring what was going on, she was told, ‘Some people from the lower orders are polishing rice,’ and composed this poem.
鷺のゐる松原いかに騷ぐ覽しらげはうたて里とよみけり
| sagi no wiru matubara ikani sawaguran sirage Fa utate sato toyomikeri | Egrets dwell Among the pine groves; how Noisy they seem; Their white plumes unpleasantly Echo through the house, it seems. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部