Translated by Kenneth Rexroth

The mists rise over
The still pools at Asuka,
Memory does not
Pass away so easily.

– YAMABE NO AKAHITO (d. 736)

The flowers whirl away
In the wind like snow.
The thing that falls away
Is myself.

– PRIME MINISTER KINTSUNE (13th c.)

We dressed each other
Hurrying to say farewell
In the depth of night.
Our drowsy thighs touched and we
Were caught in bed by the dawn.

– EMPRESS EIFUKU (1271-1342)

The crying plovers
On darkening Narumi
Each grow closer, wing
To wing as the moon declines
Behind the rising tide.

– FUJIWARA NO SUEYOSHI (1152-1211)

In a gust of wind the white dew
On the Autumn grass
Scatters like a broken necklace.

– BUNYA NO ASAYASU 10th c.)

If only the world
Would always remain this way.
Some fishermen
Drawing a little rowboat
Up the riverbank.

– MINAMOTO NO SANETOMO (d. 1219)

*Taken from http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/the-living-dead_18.html