Tag Archives: pattern

SKKS I: 65

A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.

水の面にあやをりみだる春雨や山のみどりをなべて染むらん

mizu no omo ni
ayaori midaru
harusame ya
yama no midori o
nabete somuran
Upon the water’s surface
A confusing pattern paints
The rain of spring—
Will it now the mountains
All dye with green, I wonder?

Ōchikōchi no Mitsune