𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐄𝐃

Tanka poetry refers to a Japanese 31-syllable poem, traditionally written as a single, unbroken line. The word “tanka” translates to “short song.” Similar to haiku poetry, tanka poems have specific syllable requirements. They also use many literary devices, including personification, metaphors, and similes to allow ample visualization. Some lines aren’t really Tanka, but I felt the necessity of including them because the many possibilities of being interpreted. Translated, feel free to change anything or just send parts of the whole poems.

The bead flowers you gazed at are about to wither, even though my tears haven’t dried.

Do you not see the guards as you travel through the purple fields and the forbidden fields, waving those sleeves of yours?

Plum blossoms are falling in my garden. I thought them as snow falling from the sky.

I might not be seeing you, seeing as your feelings are as half-hearted as the light peach color of your garment.

I do not feel sorry for my existence, even if it will soon vanish like dewdrops on the morning fields of Kasuga.

I wish I could also pick the moonlight filtering through the four-petaled hydrangea flowers.

It seems spring is coming, seeing as the trees all over the mountain slope are blossoming.

Waves of wisteria flowers are in full bloom. You are missing the city of Nara, are you not?

Just one branch of these flowers holds a thousand words, so don’t take it lightly.

Your skin that shines under the moon, is it like snow or precious stones?

I suppose I’ll spend the night as long as the cascading tail of a copper pheasant sleeping alone.

How I yearn for the mountain cherry blossoms to bloom every single day.

The world is hopeless. Even the mountain cave I enter out of despair is filled with the cries of deers.

Why don’t we pick the white chrysanthemums that look like early frost to our hearts’ content?

My being is burning like algae salt being dried on a windless afternoon on the shores of Matsuho waiting for someone who never arrives.

I was looking for my beloved who has gotten lost in the autumn-leaf-covered autumn mountain, but I don’t know the way.

To not even have my wish of vanishing from the face of this world granted, I truly am a miserable existence.

A foggy autumn sunset is shining upon the trees on which passing raindrops haven’t dried.

Flowers return to the roots, birds return to their old nests, but people have nowhere to go in spring.

Snow is falling like flowers and shining like gems, it reminds me of my snow-covered hometown which I even see in my dreams.

Since it seems no one can escape from the rain, these drenched clothes will never dry.

I was willing to throw away my life to be with you, but now that we are together, I wish it could be longer.

I suppose you know how long it is to spend all night alone in bed lamenting until morning.

I wish the world could stay unchanged. I feel indescribable sorrow at the sight of the rope of a fisherman’s boat rowing along the shore.

Upon the northern mountain, blue clouds are floating away from the stars and the moon.

Plum blossoms are in full bloom, so my friends, let’s weave them into our hair.

When snow falls, every single tree looks like it’s blooming, so let’s break off one branch to see if it’s really plum blossoms.

There wanders a young woman on the road lit up by the pink of the peach blossoms in the spring garden.

now with the king looming over him,    delighting in the way joshua kneels for him.   it was not hard to give favor to kings,    princes and emperors.   not for joshua.   he need not be prideful for the sake of a fallen kingdom.   the whole entirety of valisthea was at stake.   joshua stayed on his knees until gestured by the king to rise.   he played the obedient servant well enough to amuse the king.   now he would need to be persistent,    yet cautious with his questioning.   he was evermore certain that the king of waloed held the key to the mystery.