Kindle Notes & Highlights
Neither getting up nor sleeping, we passed the night till dawn, but since then I have spent my time in the endless rains of spring lost in thought, alone.
The further I travel, the more I long for the place from whence I have come. How I envy the ebbing waves, returning home.
Mount Fuji, knowing not the seasons, which one do you think it is? Snow still covers your peak— the dappled coat of a fawn.
Though we are as far apart as the drifting clouds, do not forget me till we meet again, for the moon that circles in the sky will surely come around again.
If a thousand nights could be made into one, I still could not tell you all the ways I love you before the cock began to crow.
I have learned from you what it is to feel like this. Surely it is the yearning people call love.
The tears are sad, indeed, but the light of her soul won’t fade. Though the firefly’s flame goes out, the beauty of your face still shines within my heart.
Departing fireflies, if you can rise to the heavens, tell the wild geese that the breeze that guides them home in autumn has already begun to blow.
I feel no distance between us, for there is not a moment that I can forget you, and the image of you always fills my heart.
Not yet fulfilled, my heart, teeming with secret longings, is still deep within the night.
If only I could change myself into a breeze, I would search for your chamber and enter between the slats of your beautiful blinds.
If only there were no cherry blossoms in this world, what calm would reign in the heart of spring.
It is because the blossoms scatter that they are splendid. In this world of sorrow, what lasts for long?
How I wish the parting that no one can avoid would vanish from the world, not least for this son, who prays you will live a thousand years.
However I may lament, today is the last day of spring, and already twilight is upon us.
Which did you think you would have to mourn first— cherry blossoms or the one whose life was even shorter than the petals’?
My spirit must have left me in its desire to be with you.
Life itself is not long at all; how could you have forgotten me in an even shorter time?
Give me instead the flame of your desire to dry my robes, love you in return.
I knew I’d have to walk on the path we all must finally take, but I had no idea it would be tomorrow, much less today.
