Sunday 1 August 2010

for Esther, in Tokyo

Cock and Japanese Bunting
Utamaro (1791)


Although I can shut the mouth of the incense burner,
I cannot shut the mouth of the cock,
which tells the coming of morning.

Yadoya Meshimore

1 comment:

  1. "The letter you sent me touched my heart.
    The paper was decorated with a pair of magpies.
    Now I think always of the magpies who fly with joined wings.
    I do not mind that your letter was so short."

    - The Poetess Ch'ao Li-houa, translated by Kenneth Rexroth

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