Composed for a poetry competition held by Her Majesty, the Empress, during the Kanpyō period.
常盤なる松のみどりも春くれば今ひとしほの色まさりけり
tokiFa naru
matu no midori mo
Faru kureba
ima FitosiFo no
iro masarikeri | When to the eternal
Pine’s green
Spring does come,
Now all the more vibrant
Is its hue! |
Minamoto no Muneyuki
源宗于
Composed as a Winter poem.
山里は冬ぞさびしさまさりける人めも草もかれぬと思へば
yamazato Fa
Fuyu zo sabisisa
Masarikeru
Fitome mo kusa mo
karenu to omoFeba |
In a mountain home
Winter is when loneliness
Overwhelms me;
The bustle of folk and the grasses, too,
Have withered away, I feel. |
Minamoto no Muneyuki (d.939)
Composed on the dawn of the seventh night.
今はとてわかるる時は天河わたらぬさきにそでぞひちぬる
ima Fa tote
wakaruru toki Fa
ama no kaFa
wataranu saki ni
sode zo hidinuru |
“Now’s the time”
The time we part;
The River of Heaven
I’ve yet to cross, but
My sleeves are dripping. |
Minamoto no Muneyuki
'Simply moving and elegant'