Ono no Komachi
As certain as color
Passes from the
petal,
Irrevocable as
flesh
The gazing eye falls through the world.
Hana no iro wa
Utsuri ni keri na
Itaszura ni
Waga mi yo ni furu
Nagame seshi ma ni
- translated by Kenneth Rexroth
from One Hundred Poems from the Japanese