The flower’s color has passed,
I gazed on it in vain,
while trying to live my life.
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
Ono no Komachi
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
untitled poem 1 by Ono No Komachi
Imperceptible
It withers in the world
This flower-like human heart.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
tanka 4 by Ono no Komachi
So lonely am I
My body is a floating weed
Severed at the roots
Were there water to entice me
I would follow it, I think.
translated by Donald Keene
tanka 3 by Ono no Komachi
This night of no moon
There is no way to meet him.
I rise in longing–
My breast pounds, a leaping flame,
My heart is consumed in fire.
translated by Donald Keene
tanka 2 by Ono no Komachi
When my love becomes
All-powerful,
I turn inside out
My garments of the night,
Night dark as leopard-flower.
translated by Geoffrey Bownas & Anthony Thwaite
tanka 1 by Ono no Komachi
A thing which fades
With no outward sign–
Is the flower
Of the heart of man
In this world.
translated by Arthur Waley
Leonard Durso 