Free Anthology of Japanese Literature by Donald Keene Page B

the gate, everything stood out brightly under the clear moon. Things were even worse than we had heard—there was a wilderness of decay and dilapidation. The heart of the neighbor to whose care we entrusted the house has proved a wilderness, too. Seeing that his house and ours were like one, divided only by a fence, we left everything to his care with good hopes. Whenever we sent him news or instructions, we sent small presents as well. However, tonight we have no intention of showing any displeasure. Wretched though the place looks, we shall thank him for his trouble.
    In a marshy spot in the garden we had excavated a pit, forming a pond, around which stood a grove of pine trees. It looks as if, in five or six years, a thousand years have left their mark here—one bank of the pond has collapsed, new trees have sprung up among the old, and such is the general air of neglect that all who look are afflicted with a sense of sadness. Old memories come flooding back, and the saddest of all are those of the child who was born in this house and who has not returned. To see others from the ship surrounded by excited, happy children, only makes our grief more difficult to bear. One who shares our inmost thoughts composed this poem:
When one, whose home is here, has not returned,
How sad to see these new young pines!
    Still unconsoled, perhaps, he wrote another:
The one I knew—if only she had been an ageless pine!
What need then of these grievous farewells?
    There are many things which we cannot forget, and which give us pain, but I cannot write them all down. Whatever they may be, let us say no more.
    TRANSLATED BY G. W. SARGENT

POETRY FROM THE SIX COLLECTIONS

    [ from the Gosensh Å« , 951 A.D. ]
Mizu no omo ni
The breezes of spring
Aya fukimidaru
Are blowing the ripples astray
Haru kaze ya
Along the water—
Ike no k ō ri wo
Today they will surely melt
Kyo wa tokuramu
The sheet of ice on the pond.
Ki no Tomonori
    . .
Kore ya kono
This is the Barrier
Yuku mo haeru mo
Where people come and people go
Wakaretsutsu
Exchanging farewells;
Shiru mo shiranu mo
For friends and strangers alike
Ausala no seki
This is Meeting Barrier. 1
Semimaru
    TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
    [ from the Sh Å« ish Å« , 997]
Kuraki yori
Out of the dark,
Kuraki michi ni zo
Into a dark path
Irinubeki
I now must enter:
Haruka ni terase
Shine on me from afar,
Yama no ha no tsuki
Moon of the mountain fringe! 2
Izumi Shikibu
    . .
Omoikane
The time I went to see my sister 3
Imo gari yukeba
Whom I loved unendurably,
Fuyu no yo no
The winter night's
Kawakaze samumi
River wind was so cold that
Chidori naku nari
The sanderlings were crying.
Ki no Tsurayuki
    . .
Yo no naka wo
To what shall I compare
Nani ni tatoemu
This world?
Asaborake
To the white wake behind
Kogiyuku fune no
A ship that has rowed away
Ato no shiranami
At dawn!
The Priest Mansei (c. 720)
TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR WALEY
    . .
Wasuraruru
It does not matter
Mi wo ba omowazu
That I am forgotten,
Chikkaiteshi
But I pity
Hito no inochi no
His forsworn life.
Oshiku mo aru kana
Lady Ukon
TRANSLATED BY KENNETH REXROTH
    . .
Yaemugura
In the loneliness
Shigereru y ado no
Of a hut where rankly grows
Sabishiki ni
The prickly goose-grass,
Hito koso mienu
There is not a soul in sight:
Aki wa kinikeri
Autumn has already come.
The Priest Egy ō
    . .
Yume yo yume
Dreams, listen, my dreams!
Koishiki hito ni
Do not bring me together
Aimisu na
With the man I love—
Samete no nochi wa
When once I have awakened
Wabishikarikeri
It makes me feel so lonely.
Anonymous
    . .
Koi su ch ō
They say I'm in love—
Wa ga na wa madami
The rumor is already
Tachinikeri
In circulation;
Hito shirezu koso
Yet when I began to love
Omoisomeshika
There was not a soul who knew.
Mibu no Tudami
TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
    [ from the Gosh Å« ish Å« , 1086 ]
Yasurawade
I should not have waited.
Nenamashi mono wo
It would have been better
Sayo fugete
To have slept and dreamed,
Katabuku made no
Than to have watched night