- • •
Hachi no ko ni
Sumire tampopo
Kokimazete
Sanze no hotoke ni
Tatematsuriten
|
In my begging bowl
Violets and dandelions
Are mixed together:
These will be my offering
To the Buddhas of Three Worlds.
|
Kaze wa kiyoshi
Tsuki wa sayakeshi
Iza tomo ni
Odoriakasan
Oi no nagori ni
|
The wind is fresh,
The moon pellucidly bright.
Come, then, together
We’ll spend the night in dancing,
A final fling of old age!
|
Ryōkan (1757–1831)
Translated by Donald Keene
Mountain Home
Wa ga yado wo
Koko ni mo ga na to
Miyakobito
Ii no mi iite
Sumanu yamazato
|
Oh to have a home
In such a quiet leafy spot,
Yearns the city man;
Yet he never builds a hut
In mountain country.
|
Book
Itsu yori ka
Hirakenagara no
Mado no fumi
Kaze bakari koso
Moteasobikere
|
Open and forgotten
Several hours by the window,
The book was fingered
Only by capricious winds.
|
Plum wind
Ka bakari to
Omoishi kaze ni
Kesa yori wa
Hana mo majirite
Okuru umezono
|
Fragrance alone, I thought,
Was the wind’s burden,
But petals too
Are circling the plum garden.
|
