Poet English translation Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Faintly with the dawn That glimmers on Akashi Bay In the morning mist A boat goes hidden by the isle - And my thoughts go after it. Oshikochi no Mitsune The warm light of spring Floods the country all around - The land is bright; But far on fair Yoshino's mountains The snow still is coming down. Chunagon Yakamochi When I see the white Of hoarfrost along the bridge The magpies spread Wing to wing in the night sky. I know how late the hour. Ariwara no Narihira Is there no moon? And is this springtime not the spring Of times gone by? Myself alone remaining Still the self it was before? Sarumaru Dayu Lost in the mountains, Not a hint on any side Whither I should turn, How uncertain sounds the call Of the calling bird to me. Sosei Hoshi Brief was your message; "I shall come anon." You said; And for those few words I've waited through this long October night The late rising of the waning moon. Chunagon Kanesuke Across Mika fields Flows the river Izumi, Cutting through the plain; Plain would it be had I seen her, The reason for this yearning. Chunagon Atsutada The love that stained me All the years of my dyeing Bursts forth at last In a flowering of the heart That flaunts its colors freely. Minamoto no Kintada no Ason I could not go on, I spent all day in the mountains, Hoping against hope To hear at least once more The cuckoo calling. Princess Kishi Dreams that come in sleep Bring a time for forgetting Ills that are real - But how brief is this moment When our longing can find peace. Fujiwara no Toshiyuki no Ason That autumn has come Appears nowhere with clarity To the observing eye; It is a new sound in the wind By which we are somehow made aware. Minamoto no Muneyuki no Ason Even the enduring Verdure of the pine trees, Now that spring has come, Takes on a green one shade beyond The color that was before. Fujiwara no Kiyotada We roped off the fields To go out on the Day of the Rat For the pine seedlings; Should I spare them, let them grow To shed shade for a thousand years? Fujiwara no Okikaze Who now remains For me to claim as one I know? For the ancient pine Of Takasago was not, alas, Among my childhood friends. Sakanoue no Korenori In fair Yoshino The white snow on the mountains Must be piling deep, For in the ancient capital The cold grows ever worse. Sanjoin no Nyokurodo The stone bridge contract - Things promised to be done at night - Will soon be broken, And the dawning will be bleak For the god of Kazuraki. Onakatomi no Yoshinobu Watchful at the walls, Palace guardsmen kindle fires: To burn by night, To dwindle and go out by day - Bound to this round of longing. Taira no Kanemori Sombering away, Autumn goes; and my keepsake Shall be but this - The frost now clinging to the cord That binds these aged locks. Ki no Tsurayuki Where white dew spills down And the seasonal cold rain On Moru Mountain The underleaves of all the trees Have taken color from the fall Ise How shall I wait Long enough to see him come To Miwa Mountain? I know well the years will pass And there will be no visitor. Yamabe no Akahito Starting tomorrow, I was off to pick young herbs, And I marked by fields; But yesterday and now today Those fields have filled with falling snow. Sojo Henjo Dew on the treetops, Drippings on the forest floor - In the midst of life These are emblems of the span Between the first and last to go. Ki no Tomonori Down to Azuma Through Saya and by Middlemount - What was I about, To start off on a middle path Neither in nor out of love? Ono no Komachi Whose bloom will fade, And yet the color does not show, Is this alone: In the world of love the flower That opens in the human heart. Chunagon Asatada Of ten thousand years May today be the beginning - Such is my prayer; The deity alone can count From now to where we go. Fujiwara no Takamitsu In the world below Where it seems a hard day's work To get through our lives, How one envies the cool moon Dwelling so pure in the sky! Mibu no Tadamine That spring has risen Is no sooner said, it seems, Than fair Yoshino Stands this morning to the view With a mist on its mountains. Onakatomi no Yorimoto Here you have a cane With a thousand years stored up Between each node; Tap it as you will, the tap Pours out endless life for you. Minamoto no Shigeyuki Tsukuba Mountain, Outer mountain, wooded mountain - Thick the woods may be, But would a thousand peering eyes Keep off my love from you? Minamoto no Saneakira no Ason On this precious night How I wish that I could show, If I'm to view them, To someone who knows what it is to feel, These blossoms and this moon! Minamoto no Shitagau Waves on the water, Ripples of the shining moon, Wrinkles of time: Count them up and we arrive Today at a midmost autumn. Kiyohara no Motosuke Such an oath we swore (Even as we wrung our sleeves Before each other); That for us no waves would spill Across Pine Mountain in Sue... Fujiwara no Motozane Now we say farewell To another gem-bright year, But in falling snow There seems not a touch of spring To be glimpsed in the sky today. Fujiwara no Nakafumi While I've been waiting For the moon to rise toward dawn And shed its light, The night wherein I pass my days Has reached an hour sorely late. Mibu no Tadami They need not burn it - Grass will smolder by itself Into new growth; Kasuga's burgeoning fields May be left to the spring day's fire. Nakatukasa The autumnal wind Blows but brings me no message - Yet that listless breeze, Where I a beckoning reed, would whisper In the rustling of my leaves. Translations by Edwin A. Cranston (Harvard University)