… The poetry in this part of “The Nightingale’s Song” is from the Man’yoshu and my own original poetry.
Lady Nyo
–
“The cicada cries
Everyday at the same hour
But I’m a woman much in love and very weak
And can cry anytime”
–
The rain cleared, the sun came out
And all was polished bronze.
Leaves sparkled, the air shining.
Lady Nyo would visit a shrine,
Had her palm-leaf carriage
With the white ox made ready.
–
There on the carriage cushion
Was a bone-white fan.
“How strange. And here
In my carriage!”
–
Lady Nyo opened the fan,
Saw the character
And her face went from
Pale to red,
Changing with the speed of a squid.
–
Oh! How elegant!
How sublime this character!
Of an excellent hand,
Surely a noble one,
Of great depth and emotion.
–
Then she recovered herself.
How fickle she was!
How shallow,
How low her nature
That it would allow her to be
Swayed by a stranger’s painted fan!
–
She would not answer this
She would end it.
She would remain
A virtuous wife,
Would not sully these long years
Of marriage with a trifler.
Let her dreams be enough passion,
Let her unbidden dreams keep her warm.
–
But could she live like that?
Better to be a shave- headed nun
Take up the staff with iron rings–
Hold a begging bowl!
–
At dusk,
Lady Nyo took to her inkstone,
And in her journal
Wrote poems,
Verse she hoped would
Cleanse her soul,
Rest her mind–
Calm her heart.
–
“While I wait for you
With longing in my breast
Back here at home
My bamboo blinds are fluttered
By the blowing autumn breeze.”
–
“The moon has risen
To that predetermined point
And I am thinking:
The time has come to go outside
And wait for his arrival.”
–
“Even the breeze
Increases painful longing
Even the breeze
But I know he will come
So why feel grief in waiting?”
–
So lonely am I
My soul like a floating weed
Severed at the roots
Drifting upon cold waters
No pillow for further dreams.
–
The autumn air floated
Down from nearby Moon Mountain,
A holy place where no woman
Could tread the path.
The darkening dusk
Fused the color of leaves, pines
And a Corn Moon mounted the sky.
–
The morning wren sings
I kneel in the moonlit dawn
Kimono wrapped tight
Last night I made my peace
Now free from all attachments
–
Lady Nyo knelt on the veranda
A paper lantern behind her–
Monstrous shadows in the night-gloom.
She would wait for her husband
She would wait until the winds
Of dawn blew down from Moon Mountain
And brought with them
The return of her mate.
–
“From the high mountain
The sound of a crying stag
Carries down valleys
How inspiring is his voice
Like yours, my loving lord.”
–
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2011, 2013
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