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And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again? Archilochus

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Ukiyoe Bijinga (1603-1868 CE)

The Lady-in-Waiting Suwo

IF I had made thy proffered arm
A pillow for my head
For but the moment's time, in which
A summer's dream had fled,
What would the world have said?
The authoress was the daughter of Tsugunaka Taira, the Governor of the Province of Suwo, and a lady-in-waiting at the Court of the Emperor Goreizei, who reigned A.D. 1046-1068. She was present one day at a long and tedious court function, and, feeling very tired and sleepy, she called to a servant for a pillow; a nobleman on the other side of the screen, the First Adviser of State Tadaie, gallantly offered her his arm, with a request that she would rest her head there, and she replied with this verse. She intended him to understand that, though she was willing to accept him as her husband for life, she feared that his attachment would last no longer than a fleeting summer-night's dream.

2 comments:

FreeThinke said...

The short poem and accompanying commentary are so elegant, serene and calming, so are the images, but the MUSIC is extremely irritating and so frenetic it borders in violence.

What a BIZARRE inappropriate coupling!

nicrap said...

Both very nice poems. And, yes, the commentary helped exceedingly.