Five Poems

Yosano Akiko


その友はもだえのはてに歌を見ぬわれを召す神きぬ薄黒き


Pronunciation
sono tomo wa/modae no hate ni/uta wo minu/ware wo mesu kami/kinu usuguroki


This agony within,
The unknown music;
Finally it's this, girlfriend,
The God who invites us,
Lightly into darkness.





そのなさけかけますな君罪の子が狂ひのはてを見むと伝ひたまへ


Pronunciation
sono nasake/kakemasu na kimi/tsumi no ko ga/kurui no hate wo/mi mu to iitama e


Your sense of sin,
This compassionate you;
All that I'm saying is,
It'll drive me insane,
You innocent child.





夏やせの我やねたみの二十妻里居の夏に京を説く君


Pronunciation
natsu yase no/ware ya netami no/hatachi zuma/satoi no natsu ni/kyo wo toku kimi


What a summer,
One wife at twenty;
A village of wives waits,
So enviously, you see,
Your word from Kyoto.





こもり居に集の歌ぬくねたみ妻五月のやどの二人うつくしき


Pronunciation
komorii ni/shu no uta nuku/netami zuma/satsuki no yado no/futari utsukushiki


A jealous wife,
A collection of poems;
May's been stifling, hasn't it,
Sheltering us together,
And all so beautifully.




春みじかし何に不滅の命ぞとちからある乳を手にさぐらせぬ


Pronunciation
haru mijikashi/nani ni fumetsu no/inochi zo to/chikara aru chi wo/te ni sagurasenu


Spring shortens,
And into immortal life!
There's power, to touch,
There's blood, in my breasts,
A good place for his hand.

translated from the Japanese by Stephen Cahaly