Mist floats on the Spring meadow.
My heart is lonely.
A nightingale sings in the dusk.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
8th Century Japanese literature
poem 3 by Ötomo no Yakamochi
In the spring garden
Where the peach blossoms
Light the path beneath,
A girl is walking.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
poem 2 by Ötomo no Yakamochi
Now to meet only in dreams,
Bitterly seeking,
Starting from sleep,
Groping in the dark,
With hands that touch nothing.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
poem by Ötomo no Yakamochi
I will come to you
Through the ford at Saho,
The plovers piping about me
As my horse wades
The clear water.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
poem by Otomo Surugamaro from The Man’yoshu
Again and again I think of her–
. . .a thousand waves
. . . .lapping my heart
. . . . .in a single day–
yet how hard it is to wrap that jewel
. . . . .around my wrist.
translated by Ian Hideo Levy
Leonard Durso 