Sayonara

 

By the well's green water
Under the willow shade tree
Leaves of light fall golden
Golden fall and lightly.

Autumn sun ripens golden,
Fruit of heaven's windfall;
Leaves lie on the water;
Pale moon lights her candle.

Fire-bright fox eyes burn through the night;
Badgers limned in lantern light;
Stars on the wing are geese in flight.

Bronze fish hang in jade pools
Mirroring rose-tipped mountains;
Emperors and ladies
Wander among sweet fountains.

Porcelain-blue and silver
The brimming lake by moonlight;
Noon-kiln cools through evening;
Figurines glazed in starlight

Shamisen songs
On the mountain linger, mingling
Where in palace gardens maidens
Courtly melodies are fingering

Quills in the ink-well twilight,
Willow fronds sketch Ming shadows,
Indigo and violet,
Veining the mists and white snows.

Steel katanas star-black
And ivory netsukes graven,
Samurai sleep dragon-scaled
Under the vault of heaven.

Fire-bright fox eyes burn through the night;
Badgers limned in lantern light;
Stars on the wing are geese in flight.

By the well's green water
Under the willow shade tree
Leaves of light fall golden
Golden fall and lightly.