Although I conquer all the earth, Yet for me there is only one city. In that city there is for me only one house; And in that house, one room only; And in that room, a bed. And one woman sleeps there, The shining joy and jewel of all myRead More →
In summer’s heat and mid-time of the day To rest my limbs upon a bed I lay, One window shut, the other open stood, Which gave such light, as twinkles in a wood, Like twilight glimpse at setting of the sun, Or night being past, and yet not day begun.Read More →
A thousand years, you said, as our hearts melted. I look at the hand you held, and the ache is hard to bear. ~ Lady HeguriRead More →
How many nights, alas!– Sleepless– Only the calls of the wild geese– ~ Izumi ShikibuRead More →
In her deserted house She gazes at the moon– He is not coming And she cannot reveal her heart– There is none who will listen. ~ Izumi ShikibuRead More →
Love is a great thing, yea, a great and thorough good. By itself it makes that which is heavy light; and it bears evenly all that is uneven. It carries a burden which is no burden; it will not be kept back by anything low and mean; It desires toRead More →
One day I wrote her name upon the strand But came the waves and washed it away: Agayne I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray. “Vayne man,” sayd she, “that doest in vaine assay, A mortall thing so to immortalize,Read More →
Leave me, O Love, which reachest but to dust, And thou my mind aspire to higher things: Grow rich in that which never taketh rust: Whatever fades, but fading pleasure brings. Draw in thy beams, and humble all thy might, To that sweet yoke, where lasting freedoms be: Which breaksRead More →
I care not for these ladies That must be wooed and prayed; Give me kind Amaryllis, The wanton country maid. Nature Art disdaineth; Her beauty is her own. Her when we court and kiss, She cries, “Forsooth, let go!” But when we come where comfort is, She never will sayRead More →
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses seeRead More →
