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These are my modern English translations of the ancient Japanese poems (waka/tanka) of Ono no Komachi…

"It's over!"
Your words drizzle like dismal rains,
bringing tears,
as I wilt with my years.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

The wildflowers and my love
wilted with the rain
as I idly wondered
where in the past does love remain?
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

I nodded off thinking about you
only to have you appear in my dreams.
Had I known that I slept,
I'd have never awakened!
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Submit to you, is that what you advise? 
The way the ripples do
whenever ill winds arise? 
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Watching wan moonlight flooding tree limbs, 
my heart also brims, 
overflowing with autumn.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Alas, the beauty of the flowers came to naught
as I watched the rain, lost in melancholy thought...
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

This "love" men tout and proclaim—
is it not merely the shackles
preventing my escape
from this world of pain?
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

I pursue you ceaselessly in my dreams...
yet we've never met; we're not even acquainted!
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Like flowers wilted by drenching rains,
my beauty has faded in the onslaught of my forlorn years.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Now that I approach
life's inevitable winter
your ardor has faded
like blossoms wilted
by late autumn rains.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Fiery coals searing my body
hurt me far less than the sorrow of parting.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Love is man's most unbreakable bond.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

This moonless night,
with no way to meet him,
I grow restless with longing:
my heart’s an inferno,
it chars within me.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

How brilliantly
tears rain upon my sleeve
in bright gemlets,
for my despair cannot be withstood,
like a surging flood!
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

This flower's color
has drained away,
while in idle thoughts
my life drained away
as the long rains fall.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Fatal reality!
You must do what you must, I suppose.
But even hidden in my dreams
from all prying eyes,
to watch you still pains me so!
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch
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