Japanese poems


Moon and loneliness of lovers ,translated by : Abas Saffarie

These poems and paintings are send by Soufi Mosafavi

Soufi Mostafavi , the poet of dandelions ,is an Iranian girl who loves Japanese culture . She translates Haikus from Japanese into Farsi and whenever she finds time , instead of every work , she prefer to paint inspired by Haikus . Kritya's readers have read her poems in the VOL - 1 PART - 3.
Soufi has selected few Haikus by two great Japanese poetess for Kritya and has attached few paintings of herself to adorn these beautiful short poems .
 

Poems by : Izumi shikibu )late 10th century)

As lady in waiting to Empress Shakibo,she was a member of the Imperial Court at the height of its brilliance in the Heian era(784 -II 86).With lady Murasaki, author of The Tale of Genji, she was part of a circle of gifted women who were to become major figures in the classical literature of Japan. she was married to a provincial governor and had one daughter, koshikibu who died in childhood. The scandal of her love affairs and her fame as a poet made her, like Ono no komachi, a figure of Japanese legend.




Which shouldn’t exist
In this world,
The one who forgets
Or the one
Who is forgotten?

*

Wishing to see him,
To be seen by him,
If only he were the mirror
I face each morning

*
Don’t look up
By yourself
At the sky where stars meet,
The wind from the milky way
Blows cold

*
Come quickly,as soon as
These blossoms open,
They fall.
This world exists
As a sheen of dew on flowers.

*
Which is better,
the distant lover you long for
Or the one you see daily
Without desire?

*

Why did you vanish
Into empty sky?
Even the fragile snow,
When it falls,
Falls in this world.

*

I wonder
If the wind scythes a path
Trough my garden’s wild grass
So someone can come
To visit?

*


Why haven’t i
Thought of it before?
This body,
Remembering yours,
Is the keepsake you left.

*

This heart,
Longing for you,
Breaks
To a thousand pieces-
I wouldn’t lose one

*

The dewdrop
On a bamboo leaf
Stays longer
Than you,who vanish
At dawn.

*


****

Poems by : Ono no komachi( late 10th century )

She is the most famous of the "six poetic geniuses of the Kokinshu",
the first of the Japanese anthologies to be compiled by Imperial order.
Renowned for her beauty and talent, she served at court in the middle of the ninth century. Stories of her life are part of the folklore of Japan.

Did he appear
Because I fall asleep
Thinking of him?
If only I’d known I was dreaming,
I’d never have wakened

***
If,in an autumn field,
A hundred flowers
Can untie their streamers,
May I not also openly frolic
As fearless of blame?

***
Seeing the moonlight
Spilling down
Through these trees,
My heart fills to the brim
With autumn

Night deepends
With the sound
Of a calling deer.
And I hear
My own one-sided love

*

Awake tonight
With loneliness
I cannot keep myself
From longing
For the handsome moon

*

O spider lily
Thet grows on the mountains
Called waiting,
Is there someone you also
Promised to meet this autumn?

*

Is this love reality
Or a dream?
I cannot know,
When both reality and dreams
Exist without truly existing.

*