I realize that I haven’t posted the snow poem that I was talking about in my previous post. It’s a waka that I discovered in the book of Steven D. Carter, How to Read a Japanese Poem. Same thing for the next one.
太閤記［たいこうき］- 佐々成政［さっさなりまさ］
Sassa Narimasa was a samurai at the service of the daimyô Oda Nobunaga ; the context of the poem is that all of his lands, except for one fief, ended up being taken away from him. His life ended by suicide.
何ごとも変はり果てたる世の中を知らでや雪の白く降るらむ
Doesn’t she know it,
that everything has changed
in the human world ?
The white snow – she’s falling ;
just the same as before.
うない松［うないまつ］319 - 木下長嘯子［きのしたちょうしょうし］
About the death of his 17 years old daughter.
見ると無き闇の現の稲妻や儚き人の行方なるらむ
A flash of lightning
in the darkness of this world,
almost invisible –
has it gone to the same place
where the dead reside ?
Writing posts like the one with the Midaregami poems takes me so long ; sometimes I just want to share a few waka or haiku without taking too much time. But I will answer any question of course.
These 2 waka express so well the pain and sadness of impermanence, they are among my favorites. There is a feeling of anxiety but also serenity at the same time ? In the second one I just love the metaphysical question it’s asking, that universal feeling when we think about death and what might happens afterwards. The Universe is an extremely strange place, no one knows why it appeared exactly, why we are all here ; why is there evil, suffering, chaotic death. I guess we will never have any answer about all of that.