Consciousness, Literature and the Arts

Archive

Volume 3 Number 3, December 2002

_______________________________________________________________

Thoughts About You

Like the wild ducks that came to Shinobazu Pond,

A longing was visited upon me.  When they

Wing homeward, will my longing also?

An autumn rich in sounds

I heard one sound no mortal could have sung.

Was it a dream?

Bound by the siren song

I followed where it led.

My eyes were likewise captured.

Though I’ve not been here before,

You and I have met and loved.

Why have we met again?

I see your elegance, your beauty

And wonder why the gods allowed

A mortal to attain their heights.

Were Amaterasu yet secluded in her cave

And Ame-no-uzume indisposed,

With you to dance, we need not fear for light

You are beyond reach, I know.

Yet, I am compelled to

Tell you how I feel.

A youthful love once consumed me.

Not since have I been overwhelmed.

Ah! To feel those joys anew.

Against the advice of sages

I fell in love with you.

Tell me, was I wrong?

I wait upon another song

To tell me that my hopes

And dreams are not in vain.

With spring arising green upon the bough,

The ducks have spread their wings.

Still lies my longing.

And now, my leaving arrives all too soon.

But better now than late, while

Reason still holds sway.

How can I forget You?  Chameleon-like,
Can I change my colors?
Or forever yearn?

 

A. J. Palmer, Tokyo, 1984-85