The Master-Singers of Japan, by Clara A. Walsh, [1914]
By Tachibane no Masato
In the chill Autumn breeze
A lonely insect weeping
Heavy dew-tears forlorn.
Tell me, what feelings sweeping
Through its heart, passion-torn,
Shake its frail frame with weeping?
Gone is the barrier that of old
Had crossed my way,
But in its place my eyes behold,
As on I stray—
The wild winds sweep a scented cloud
Of fluttering petals from the cherry-trees—
Into the narrow pathway, where they crowd
Whirled by the breeze
And bid my footsteps stay,
The gold sun shimmering in noontide skies
Shines down, where the red-burnished dragonflies
Flit to and fro in the translucent haze
Over the village of eventless days!
By Tomonori—Early 10th Century
The cherry-blossom gleams, a pearly haze,
Across the landscape, far as eye can see,
Like mist-wreaths veiling in their shifting maze
Yoshino's mountain-gorges’ mystery.
By Teitoku
Would that some stranger hitherward would stray,
Unto whose wondering eyes I might display
The blossoms' glory in spring sunrise glowing,
Rose-pink of dawn upon a mist of grey,
Yoshino's cherries on her mountains blowing.