Carpe Diem Time Travel #5

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday July 30th at 7:00 pm (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new "weekend-meditation" here at CDHK. This week our "weekend-meditation" is an episode of Carpe Diem's Time Travel, Ancient Japanese poetry to inspire you. And this week I love to inspire you through a few poems from the Man'yoshu, an anthology of myriad poems. For this episode I have chosen a few poems from the 20th book of the Man'yoshu, here is the first by Wakayamatobe no Mimaro of Aratama District, a man of serviceable age in the service of the Registrar’s Office. :

wa ga tuma pa
itaku kopirasi
nomu midu ni
kagö sapë miete
yö ni wasurarezu

My wife
Loves me dearly, it seems
For in my drinking water
Her form appears
In life, I never can forget her.

It's a sad poem in which you can feel the loss of the poet. His wife died, but in everything, even the most simple things like water, he sees and senses his wife. A strong poem full of love, unconditional love.

Japanese woman

Here is another poem with the seem tone and feeling. This poem is by Mononobe no Komaro of Lower Naga District:

wa ga tuma mo
e ni kaki toramu
iduma mo ga,
tabi yuku are pa
mitutu sinöbamu

My wife
In a picture I’d draw,
Had I but the time,
Then on my journey
Would I gaze at it, remembering her.

It seems like this 20th book of the Man'yoshu is filled with this kind of sad poems, so here is another one to inspire you:

sasa ga pa nö
sayagu simo yo ni
nana pe karu
körömo ni maseru
körö ga pada pa mo

The leaves of bamboo grass
Rustle on this frosty night;
Wearing sevenfold
Garments cannot compare
To my darling’s skin.

© poet's name unknown

And with this third poem I return back to the goal of the "waka", "uta" or "tanka" ... these poetry forms are meant for love and all that has to do with it. In this last poem I sense the deep love of the poet for his / her darling and in this poem he / she describes that in a wonderful way ... longing for the one you love ... that's unconditional love.

And for closure a tanka I created last year, but this one fits the idea of the above poems, so I share itr here again:

deep dark forest
seeking for nature’s mysteries –
a new day rises
after a hot and steamy night
she departs … without a kiss

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you all will have a wonderful weekend and I am looking forward to all of your responses on this Time Travel episode in which we explored a few poems from the 20th book of the Man'yoshu.

This episode is open for your submissions next Sunday July 30th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until August 3rd at noon (CET). Have a great weekend ...