Songs of a Cowherd/At the Yoshino Garden

Songs of a Cowherd
by Itō Sachio, translated by Shio Sakanishi
4621264Songs of a CowherdShio SakanishiItō Sachio

At the Yoshino Garden

(June first)

By a plum tree
Poppies bloom;
Under the pines
Thistles flowering—
A cottage built of straw.

Red, crimson red,
Are the poppies.
Bathed in the evening sun,
They are aflame.


(Again, June 20)

Over the marsh
Where the flowering iris
Stands out white in relief,
A lone glow-worm
Flickers.