The following Tanka poems are some of my favorites from “The Ink Dark Moon, Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan”. I find Japanese literature simply amazing in its color, its concrete ties between man and his world as it is found, and with its simplicity in juxtaposition of disparate elements to form a whole. I hope you find some enjoyment in this very small selection from a very small book.
This morning
even my morning glories
are hiding,
not wanting to show
their sleep-mussed hair.
~ Ono No Komachi
This inn
on the road to Iwanoue
is a cold place to sleep . . .
Oh monk,
would you please lend me your robes?
The monk’s reply:
Those who have given up the world
wear only a single layer
of moss-rough cloth,
yet not to offer it would be heartless.
Let us sleep together, then.
~ Ono No Komachi
Sent anonymously to a man who had passed in front of the screens of my room
Should the world of love
end in darkness,
without our glimpsing
that cloud-gap
where the moon’s light fills the sky?
~ On No Komachi
The autumn night
is long only in name—
We’ve done no more
than gaze at each other
and it’s already dawn.
~ Ono No Komachi
On a night
when the moon
shines as brightly as this,
the unspoken thoughts
of even the most discreet heart might be seen.
Izumi Shikibu
My pillow
has become
a dusty thing—
for whom
should I brush it off?
Izumi Shikibu
Things I Want Decided
Which shouldn’t exist
in this world,
the one who forgets
or the one
who is forgotten?
Which is better,
to love
one who has died
or not to see
each other when you’re alive?
Which is better,
the distant lover
you long for
or the one you see daily
without desire?
Which is the least unreliable
among fickle things—
the swift rapids,
a flowing river,
or this human world?
Izumi Shikibu
The world rushes on
and now spring is over.
It seems that only yesterday
everything I saw
was in full flower
Izumi Shikibu
Although
the cricket’s song
has no words,
still,
it sounds like sorrow.
Izumi Shikibu
