Two poems composed on birds.
我が門ゆ鳴き過ぎ渡る霍公鳥いやなつかしく聞けど飽き足らず
wa ga kado yu
nakisugiwataru
pototogisu
iya natukasiku
kikedo akitarazu |
By my gate,
Singing, passes
The cuckoo;
O, but he does move me so –
I listen, yet can never get my fill… |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
When the house of Bishop Mokuban burnt down, I sent a message, with this, to his mother.
出でにける門のほかをし知らぬ身は問ふべき程もさたすきにけり
idenikeru
kado no Foka wo si
siranu mi Fa
toFubeki Fodo mo
sada suginikeri |
Departed
Through that other gate have you, while
In ignorance, I,
When I should have known,
Have passed my time. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
荒雄らを来むか来じかと飯盛りて門に出で立ち待てど来まさず
arawora wo
komu ka kozi ka to
ipimorite
kado ni idetati
matedo komasazu |
O, Arao
Will you return, or will you not?
I pile high the rice
And stand outside our door, but
There is no sign of you… |
'Simply moving and elegant'