It’s on-rushing time,

seasons blown by passing winds

that trouble us so.

In the heart of the flower

there is no need to leave this world.

Empress Eifuku

from Only Companion: Japanese Poems of Love and Longing

transl Sam Hamill

Only now I know
that power – greater than storms –
a heart-rending awe
silencing all the pines
at nightfall on the mountain.

Emperor Fushima

from Only Companion: Japanese Poems of Love and Longing
transl Sam Hamill