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dragonyphoenix) wrote2016-04-03 10:07 am
dragonyphoenix) wrote2016-04-03 10:07 am
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Although the Wind
Although the wind By Izumi Shikibu; English version by Jane Hirshfield
Although the wind
blows terribly here,
the moonlight also leaks
between the roof planks
of this ruined house.
Izumi Shikibu is one of the towering figures of Japanese literature. She lived in Kyoto and was an official companion to the empress. She married young, but scandalized the court by abandoning her husband to become the lover of one of the empress's sons. When the prince died a few years later, she took a series of other lovers before eventually marrying for a second time.
She was a social rebel, but willing to be fully engaged in her life. And, like her personal life, Shikibu's poetry mixes elements of eros with the deep awareness that comes from Buddhist meditative practice.
Although the wind
blows terribly here,
the moonlight also leaks
between the roof planks
of this ruined house.
Izumi Shikibu is one of the towering figures of Japanese literature. She lived in Kyoto and was an official companion to the empress. She married young, but scandalized the court by abandoning her husband to become the lover of one of the empress's sons. When the prince died a few years later, she took a series of other lovers before eventually marrying for a second time.
She was a social rebel, but willing to be fully engaged in her life. And, like her personal life, Shikibu's poetry mixes elements of eros with the deep awareness that comes from Buddhist meditative practice.
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