as soon as these blossoms open they fall

cherry blossoms.jpg
Cherry blossom season in Tokyo, Spring 2018. Photo by me. 

For your Saturday, a fleeting and powerful poem by Izumi Shikibu, who was considered one of the greatest women poets of Japan’s Heian period (794-1185).

“Come quickly –as soon as
these flowers open,
they fall.
This world exists
as a sheen of dew on flowers.”

translated by Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani

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