Ono no Komachi: Quotes about the night

Ono no Komachi was Japanese poet. Explore interesting quotes on night.

Ono no Komachi: 30 quotes1 like

“This night of no moon
There is no way to meet him.
I rise in longing—
My breast pounds, a leaping flame,
My heart is consumed in fire.”

Source: Donald Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955), p. 78

“Although I come to you constantly
over the roads of dreams,
those nights of love
are not worth one waking touch of you.”

Source: Kenneth Rexroth's translations, Women Poets of Japan (1982), p. 15

“You do not come
On this moonless night.
I wake wanting you.
My breasts heave and blaze.
My heart burns up.”

Source: Kenneth Rexroth's translations, One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese (1976), p. 34

“Following the roads
Of dream to you, my feet
Never rest. But one glimpse of you
In reality would be
Worth all these many nights of love.”

Source: Kenneth Rexroth's translations, One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese (1976), p. 33

“Autumn nights, it seems,
are long by repute alone:
scarcely had we met
when morning's first light appeared,
leaving everything unsaid.”

Source: Helen Craig McCullough's translations, Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry (1985), p. 142