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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nihil who wrote (37074)	5/8/1999 8:31:00 AM
From: nihil	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

Better court poetry --- Lament on the Instability of Human Life Life is such in this world That our struggles are all in vain: Years rise on months And time flows ever onward, Flooding us away A hundred trivial concerns Oppress us in succession And stifle us under their weight. So women bent with age Once rejoiced in being young -- Carefree girls binding, As girls are ever known to do, Binding foreign jewels About their gaily draped arms -- Waving white linen sleeves, Trailing the hems of scarlet skirts As hand and hand they went, Spending their time in happy play, And all were girls together. But time has the power of seasons, And irresistibly Summer has given way to winter; And at an unremembered hour Those glistening tresses, black As the mud-snails innards, Were whitened by a silent frost; As from a time obscure Those cheeks that glowed so bright, Those scarlet cheeks, Were wrinkled -- scratched by time. So the bold young men Rejoiced to prove their manliness: Like warriors girded their hips With their straight or curving swords, Clutched tightly in their hands Their deadly, beast destroying bows, Threw upon their roans Saddles of woven workmanship, Climbed upon their mounts, And eagerly galloped away to the hunt. But is the way of the world Such that these moments can long endure? For a night of love The eager girls quietly push open Their wooden doors, And their lovers grope, then clasp The hands they sought, And sleep, beloved arms entwined. But such nights are few, And soon the lover goes with age's hand staff Carried by his side, And then goes stumbling onward, Scorned by the passerby; He must go stumbling endlessly, Despised by the passing crowds. For such is the common course of life , That age should bring Just this much and nothing more -- That we cling to life As long as our souls endure it, And our efforts are in vain. Envoy How I long to be Unalterably what once I was, Immovable as a rock, But because I belong to this world, There is no stop to time. Yaminoe Okura (?660-?733) tr. Earl Minor

To: nihil who wrote (37074)	5/8/1999 2:01:00 PM
From: jbe	Respond to of 108807

Yes, nihil, the poems you quote in both your posts are striking and memorable. I guess you do have a taste for poetry, after all! <g> One of your remarks, I will admit, bowled me over (emphasis mine): Japanese court poetry is ineffably beautiful to me -- easily translated and understood. But one can learn enough Japanese in a few days* to love the poems in the original.* In a few days?! I have always been under the impression that Japanese grammar is extraordinarily difficult. (We won't even mention Japanese pronunciation.) Am I wrong? And one more question: do I detect a bit of Chinese influence here? Or is it the translator(s)? The poems you cite remind me a lot of Arthur Waley's translations from the Chinese. Joan