"Another presence
in the empty room -
ah! the rain"

Kenneth White

"Cry not, insects
For even stars in love
Must endure separation"

Issa

"What’s that? What’s that?
the moon
reflected in my soup."

Kenneth White

"Little japanese apple-tree
saying quietly:
no need to go to Kyoto"

Kenneth White

"Doesn’t he realize
that I am not
like the swaying kelp
in the surf
where the seaweed gatherer
can come as often as he wants?"

Ono no Komachi

"If only the world
Would always remain this way,
Some fishermen
Drawing a little rowboat
Up the river bank."

Minamoto No Sanetomo

"Submit to you—
could that be what you are saying?
the way ripples on the water
submit to an idling wind?"

Ono no Komachi

"Which is better,
the distant lover
you long for
or the one you see daily
without desire?"

Izumi Shikibu

"Which shouldn’t exist
in this world,
the one who forgets
or the one
who is forgotten?"

Izumi Shikibu

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