2010-07-26

The joy of death

Here's your cheery read for the day: Kashū: Shi no yorokobi 歌集死のよろこび ("The joy of death: Poems").

The author is Yokose Yau 横瀬夜雨. Or read it atmosphere-free, if you are impatient.

A formally restricted take on section two, "The name" (名):

I hid the name within for ten long years:
Aya, weaver Aya. Only to
Grant it to the firstborn of another

Though chosen as the granter of the name, I have
No wife of my own. Only my
Sorrow, and what pity I earn thereby.

A man of constant sorrow, with no wife,
Nothing under heaven. Only my
Dreams of children, never to be born

The name I thought to give my child. No better
Name in all Japan. Only
Now that name belongs to someone else.

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