What is constant
in this world of ours?
Yesterday’s deeps
in the Asuka River
today have turned to shallows
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
9th Century Japanese poetry
anonymous tanka 3 from the Kokinshu
If a seed is there
the pine will sprout
even among boulders;
if I love and keep on loving,
can we fail to meet?
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
anonymous tanka 2 from The Kokinshu
How often I think of it!
that boat in the morning mist
of Akashi Bay,
moving dimly dimly
out of sight beyond the islands
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
anonymous tanka 1 from The Kokinshu
Cheery flowers,
the image of
our fleeting world–
no sooner have they opened
than they begin to fall
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
To a lady glimpsed in a carriage by Ariwara No Narihira
Seen, and yet not seen–
that such a one could be
so longed for–
today I spent the whole day
hopelessly gazing
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
Ariwara No Narihira on aging
In the end I find
I take no pleasure in the moon–
these very moons,
when they pile up,
are what brings us to old age!
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
Ariwara No Narihira on cherry blossoms
If there were no such thing
as cherry blossoms
in this world,
in springtime how untroubled
our hearts would be!
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
untitled poem 4 by Ono No Komachi
The flower’s color has passed,
I gazed on it in vain,
while trying to live my life.
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
untitled poem 3 by Ono No Komachi
They change,
though you can’t see it
in the color of their faces–
these blossoms that are the hearts
of the people of this world
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
untitled poem 2 by Ono No Komachi
As certain as color
Passes from the petal,
Irrevocable as flesh,
The gazing eye falls through the world.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Leonard Durso 