JAPAN SONGS - lyrics

JAPAN SONGS – PART 1
All poems translated from the original Japanese by Thomas E. McAuley.
www.wakapoetry.net

Autumn Mountains by Victoria Bond
Princess Nukata (Man’yōshū I:16)                                                                           

 Buried by winter,
When spring comes to pass,
The silent
Birds burst into song;
The bloomless
Flowers burst out, but
The mountains are so lush,
One cannot make one’s way;
The grasses are so thick,
An outstretched hand is lost;
On an autumn mountain,
One sees trees’ leaves:
The yellow leaves,
To take for a keepsake;
Green ones
To leave behind in sorrow,
Though I hate to do it:
Autumn mountains, for me there can be none other!

Eight Thousand Spears by Paul Moravec
Anonymous (Kojiki 3)                                                                                                            

 Eight Thousand Spears,
Mighty God,
A delicate
Maid am I.
My heart
Is a bird upon the seashore
Now,
It flies for me
Later,
It may fly for you.
My heart’s life
Do not end it!
Though it be a rowdy
Messenger of the skies.
The words,
The spoken words
Are like this.
In the mountains green,
When the sun lies hidden,
Lily-seed dark
Night will arise.
As the morning sun
Come smiling to me;
With mulberry-cloth
White arms
The melting snow
Of my youthful breast
Enfold.
Entwining, gazing:
Pure jewelled hand
Pillowed upon hand
Forever
Let us sleep.
And so
Put aside your longing,
Eight Thousand Spears,
Mighty God.
The words,
The spoken words,
Are like this.

Not a Trace by James Matheson
Yakamochi (Man’yōshū III: 466)                                                                              

 At my home
The blossoms have flowered,
Yet the sight
Does not ease my heart.
If my sweet
Darling were here,
Like mated ducks
Paired side-by-side, we’d be;
And if I plucked a spray,
I would want to show it to her.
As a cicada shell
Is our fleeting flesh;
As dew and frost
It disappears;
The foot-wearying
Mountain paths she trod and,
As the setting sun,
Vanished.
Thinking on it,
Hurts my breast;
I cannot speak
I know not what name to give;
Not a trace will be left
Of the world of men, so
There’s nothing to be done.

JAPAN SONGS – PART 2

KEI’UN SONG praying for love by Aleksandra Vrebalov
Kei’Un (Hyakushu 84)                                                                                 

 Unknown to all
My prayer
I made…
I wonder, will this sacred
Water grant it? 

In the blink of an eye… by Jay Reise
(A Miniature Song Cycle of Ancient Japanese Poems)

1.Fujiwara no Sanekata (Sanekata Shū 293)
 As spring breezes
Bring on the night
That the cherry blossoms
May fall, or not,
Weighs heavy on my mind.

2. Ariwara no Narihira (Kokinshū KKS XV: 747) 
Is this not that moon?
And Spring: is as the Spring of old
Is it not?
Only this body of mine
Is as it ever was…

3. Matsuo Bashō (Umi Kurete)
Dusk falls upon the sea as
Ducks call
Faintly in the whiteness.

 4. Ariwara no Narihira (Kokinshū KKS XVI: 861)   
In the end, we all set foot
Upon the path-many times before
I have heard tell, yet
That it should come upon me now-
I never did believe.

Tree of Pearls by Douglas J. Cuomo
Anonymous (Man’yōshū XI: 2824)                                                                                  

 My love,
Had I but known his coming,
Among the wild weeds
Of my garden
I would have scattered jewels.