Three Japanese poems copied out in a library many many summers ago.
MODESTY
You claim to be modest
And I will not say you lie
Yet no one wears a scarlet skirt
Expecting to get by
Without attracting notice
From the quicker kind of eye.
Anon (8th century)
KEEPSAKE
The keepsake which you gave me.....
Once I had thought you kind
So to ease the pain of our parting
But now I find
That, of intent, you have given me nothing
But a thistle in the mind.
Anon (9th century)
GREEN LOVE
No matter how one darks oneself
And I've tried, I've tried
The love thoughts that transluce the flesh
Are as hard to hide
As those green lights which a firefly's body
Suffers from inside
Anon (10th century)
MODESTY
You claim to be modest
And I will not say you lie
Yet no one wears a scarlet skirt
Expecting to get by
Without attracting notice
From the quicker kind of eye.
Anon (8th century)
KEEPSAKE
The keepsake which you gave me.....
Once I had thought you kind
So to ease the pain of our parting
But now I find
That, of intent, you have given me nothing
But a thistle in the mind.
Anon (9th century)
GREEN LOVE
No matter how one darks oneself
And I've tried, I've tried
The love thoughts that transluce the flesh
Are as hard to hide
As those green lights which a firefly's body
Suffers from inside
Anon (10th century)
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