Poems from the Japanese

The mists rise over

The still pools at Asuka

Memory does not

Pass away so easily

When I went out

In the Spring meadows

To gather violets

I enjoyed myself

So much that I stayed all night

Though the purity

Of the moonlight has silenced

Both nightingale and cricket

The cuckoo alone

Sings all the white night

I waited for my lover

Until I could hear

In the night the oars of the boat

Crossing the river of Heaven

In a gust of wind the white dew

On the autumn grass

Scatters like a broken necklace