Time and Romance

From the 14th century Japanese text, “Essays in Idleness” (tsurezuregusa 徒然草), composed by Buddhist monk Kenkō:

26) When I recall the months and years I spent as the intimate of someone whose affections have now faded like cherry blossoms scattering even before a wind blew, I still remember every word of hers that once so moved me; and when I realize that she, as happens in such cases, is steadily slipping away from the world, I feel a sadness greater even than that of separation from the dead. That is why, I am sure, a man once grieved that white thread should be dyed in different colors, and why another lamented that roads inevitably fork.

Translation by Professor Donald Keene

From here, Kenkō quotes a poem that was “among the hundred verses presented to the Retired Emperor Horikawa”:

Original Japanese	Romanization	Translation by Donald Keene
昔見し	mukashi mishi	The fence around her house,
妹が垣根は	imo ga kakine wa	The woman I loved long ago,
荒れにけり	arenikeri	Is ravaged and fallen;
つばなまじりの	tsubana majiri no	Only violets remain
菫のみして	sumire no mi shite	Mingled with the spring weeds.

Finally, Kenkō ends the passage with:

What a lonely picture — the poem must describe something that really occurred.