And this
is all there is–
when my love and I
counted on a thousand years
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
8th Century Japanese poetry
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 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
poem 2 by Otomo no Yakamochi from The Man’yoshu
If longing were a thing
one could die from,
death would have come to me
. . . . .and come again
a thousand times!
translated by Ian Hideo Levy
poem by Otomo no Yakamochi from The Man’yoshu
How can I make sure it stays in my hand,
this gem I would constantly gaze on,
in the morning and throughout the day?
translated by Ian Hideo Levy
a tanka from the Manyoshu by Otomo Yakamochi
You, my love, have asked
if I heard the wild goose cry
though I’m sure you know
The wild goose that cried above
is hidden by distant clouds
translated by Harold Wright
a tanka by Lady Ötomo of Sakanoe
Unknown love
Is as bitter a thing
As the maiden-lily
Which grows in the thickets
Of the summer moor.
translated by Arthur Waley
untitled tanka by Lady Kasa
To love someone
Who does not return that love
Is like offering prayers
Back behind a starving god
Within a Buddhist temple.
translated by Harold P. Wright
Leonard Durso 