The Kokinshu: Weekly Reading
Sorry I haven't posted one of these in a few weeks... you know... new baby and all... Not like anyone ever reads these things anyway ^_^
I really like and relate to this one! In fact it seems to be a perfect depiction of how I felt during an 11 year obsession with someone. I really should share that story someday... but not today. ;)
It is because my yearning heart
has wandered to my love in daydreams,
that it does not know that my body is lost in darkness.
The Kokinshu is a compilation of well over a thousand short poems composed by Japanese poets in the Heian period (as ordered by Emperer Uda). It dates all the way back roughly to the year 905. I have fallen in love with these poems!
The book I'm pulling these poems from deserve the following credits:
John Timothy Wixted (Author), Leonard Grzanka (Author), Laurel Rasplica Rodd (Translator), Mary Catherine Henkenius (Translator)
The book itself can be purchased on Amazon if you follow this link.
Please keep in mind that The Kokinshu has been published by many different publishers and translated by many different people over time. I'm simply sharing with you the translations from one book.