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
the transient quality of life
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
from When The Day Comes 2 by Ghalib
How long is our life? How long does an eyelash flutter?
The warmth of a poetry gathering is like a single spark.
O Ghalib, the sorrows of existence, what can cure them but death?
There are so many colors in the candle flame, and then the day comes.
translated by Robert Bly with Sunil Dutta
Leonard Durso 