Because limits are set,
today I have taken off
my mourning robe,
but there’s no end
to my tears
12th Century Japanese poet
a tanka by Fujiwara No Teika
Thinking of the past I wake, mind empty–
the moonlight gone, I do not know where
Untitled Tanka by Fujiwara No Shunzei
Very well–
but at least let me
hope for favor
in some life to come,
I who now suffer beyond enduring.