Ono No Komachi Translations 2

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