that look in your eye
just before sunset
when the night held more promise
than the day
it might have lasted forever
in some other lifetime
wouldn’t that have been something
to laugh about
in a corner booth
in heaven
roses, kid
in an always spring
Month: April 2014
Envoys by Otomo no Yakamochi
I think how I’d like to spend
a year in Naniwa
where the reed leaves blow,
looking out at the vastness
of these stretching seas
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
Otomo no Yakamochi still grieving 2
In the past I saw them as strangers
but now when I think
my love is buried there,
I feel close to those Saho hills
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
Otomo no Yakamochi still grieving 1
And this
is all there is–
when my love and I
counted on a thousand years
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
on the loss of a loved one by Otomo no Yakamochi
The world is never
any more than just this–
I knew it all along,
but an aching heart
is still hard to bear
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
untitled poem by Sami Mansei
To what shall I compare this world?
A boat that rows off with morning,
leaving no trace behind
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
a life
turning, turning
a leaf in the wind
blown far from the tree
untitled poem 2 by Lady Kasa
I love you–
do not forget me!
Like winds blowing
over the bay,
never let us cease!
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
untitled poem 1 by Lady Kasa
My keepsake–
look at it and think of me,
and I will love you
through the long years
strung like beads on a string
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
on what one does not say by Lady Kasa
The world has so many eyes–
though we’re close
as steppingstones in a brook,
I must live with my love unspoken.
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
Leonard Durso 