Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CCXIV): Ono no KAMACHI (c. 825 – c. 900) JAPAN, “Youmeni “, “Dream Path”, “Căi de visuri”,

Ono no Komachi

夢ぢには
あしもやすめず
かよへども
うつつにひとめ
見しごとはあらず

ad litteram translation:

in [my] dreams / along dream paths
without resting my legs
[I] go often [to you]
in the real world, a single glimpse
is different.

A free English translation:

Though I go to you
ceaselessly along dream paths,
the sum of those trysts
is less than a single glimpse
granted in the waking world.

Ono no Komachi
c. 825 – c. 900, Japan
“Căi de visuri”

în somn,
cu paşii osteniţi,
pe căi de visuri
ajung la tine
şi-n zori
o clipă de-ndoieli
e trează-n mine.

Versiune în limba Română
Constantin ROMAN, Londra,
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

SHORT BIO:

Ono no Komachi (小野 小町?, c. 825 – c. 900) was a Japanese waka poet, one of the Rokkasen—the Six best Waka poets of the early Heian period. She was renowned for her unusual beauty, and Komachi is today a synonym for feminine beauty in Japan. She also counts among the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals