TANKA TRANSLATED AS TANKA

Short as a segment

of Naniwa marsh reed,

not even that much

time for us to meet again

on the long passage, is there?

    --Lady Ise

Now out of darkness

onto the path of darkness

Unwilling I go.

Linger to shine on me, moon,

poised at the rim of the hill.

    --Izumi Shikibu

Only for you, lord,

am I out here in spring fields,

pulling early greens,

with snow falling

thick on my sleeves.

  --Emperor Koko

How few the moments

that my gaze has lit upon

the flowers of spring.

How many the months and days

that I have passed without fruit.

--Fujiwara no Okikase

Should we never meet,

and entwine, threads making cord,

now this way, now that,

upon what line shall I string

all the jewels of my life?

--Sakanoe Korenori

Unmistakably

even here, far south in Tsu,

winter's come at last

to my cottage, hidden down

in a blanket of rushes.

--Minamoto no Shigeyuki

Unbearably cold,

sanderlings cried in the wind

across the river

the night I went to see her

whom I loved beyond bearing.

--Tsurayuki