Long Forgetfulness Poems

These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

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

As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono...

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As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Submit to you—is that what you advise? 
The way the ripples...

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Yes, love is no more or less reliable the more you check on this. Just like the frigid days of winter make their way for the pleasures that lay in awe of Spring I'm finding....

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ETERNAL RECURRENCE*


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“I am certain that I have been here as I am now a thousand times before and
 I hope to return a thousand times after.”  GOETHE 
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1.

Once upon a time, 
The Lord...

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Submerging myself with water of wistfulness
Trying to be rid of the loneliness in progress
I missed going outside and swimming in a precious, pure water
I’m looking above the surface instead of the ugliness of underwater

Today is...

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Unquotable quotes: Philosophers – XXII

Take Socrates: the insignia of a true philosopher is the bald pate and the luxuriant beard – the very reason why women make for such pathetic philosophers.
The bald pate facilitates the...

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She stirs first..restless..looking longingly over..senses awakened.
Their feet shuffle slowly under warm covers. The moonlight shines thru the window catching her face. .illuminating it…her tousled hair frames her face.
She looks up, hopefully for his eyes to...

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Waking up early steals your sleep, but sleeping too long steals your peace,
Like a morning thief leaving shadows in place of unfulfilled dreams,
Movement makes you feel pain in your muscles, but stillness weakens you,
Like a...

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Autumn Leaves/Les feuilles mortes de Jacques PREVERT (1900-77) 
Translated by T. Wignesan 

(Note: As far as I can make out, this poem is at the heart of all versions of « The Autumn Leaves "...

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REINCARNATION

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“I am certain that I have been here as I am now a thousand times before and
 I hope to return a thousand times after.” GOETHE 
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1.

Each soul an ambassador was and is...

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To those people who spend most of their life
surrounded with worldliness its cares and strife
this piece is dedicated it is my duty to convey
without any effort not to I'd be left in dismay.

One should always...

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HERE. ONCE STOOD OUR HOME

I can't forget in a hurry,
Here once stood our ancestral home,
As was told my great- great- great- grand father
Who told my great-great-grand father,
Who told my great grand father and who 
In...

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In recent years I had grown so forgetful, like noon without memory of night.
I forgot special events and sundry items, like books, my phone, or flashlight.

It was turning into a frightful nuisance, like long shadows...

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Everything one has forgotten cries for help in the dream.
In the depths of the night, where darkness spreads its wings like a velvet mantle,
I float through the restless ocean of my thoughts, where shadows weave...

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I cannot express orally, how and how much,
I am unable to say its source and its flow;
Is it from a human or it has divine touch?
Sometimes it is fiercely fast, and other times slow;
Why it's...

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No, I do not agree that your pain has to last forever. Here's exactly why, friend. 

"All scars heal just as much as we allow them to become a scab." "As they eventually all grow...

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Encounter with guardian angel January 20th, 2022

We (myself and thee missus)
experienced shell shock
analogous to war weary soldiers
back home from the western front
experiencing battlefield flashback
analogous to awakening dormant
post traumatic stress disorder.

Mental health challenged renter
twice threatened us
(think...

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I am anxious
as my 5:30 beeping alarm
grows defiantly louder,
reminding me of surreal difference
between asleep, longing for better days awake,
and,
now awake,
longing for more sleep
struggling toward alarming predawn buttons
to release from this first crisis
for depressing life's day-rousing...

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Through the broken lines of destiny, the shattered strings of time are revealed,
The thread of fate snaps, the springs of eternity unravel silently,
Fallen idols, marble faces cracked under the weight of eternity,
People sleeping in beds...

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In the twilight of life, when the sun weeps its rays on the reddened sky of memories,
I feel how autumn weaves its golden and rusty web over the garden of my weary soul,
Each falling leaf...

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The older I get, the more I forget the names of colors.
Would you call this paint amber, burnt ochre, or clay?
Would it were the same with all of my dolors.
But age hasn’t washed any of...

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In the labyrinth of my heart, I whisper an unknown "goodbye"
Not to a specter, for it is not so,
For it mimics but never extends its palm to respond,
In response, my empty hand remains suspended in...

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Matsuo Basho English Translations of haiku about spring, birds, bats, butterflies, flowers, sun, cherry.

Seeing them naked
almost makes me caress
the wanton flowers.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch

As temple bells fade
flowers strike their fragrance
into the silence.
—Matsuo...

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Between Earth and Ecstasy
My soul, wrought from the dust of falling stars,
Has embraced the undisturbed illusions, resting not in halted slumber,
They levitate, and like the crescent moon blooming, dark stirrings grow within me,
I rend the...

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