The Trouble with Tanka-4

bleached driftwood
on the empty beach
and the white, white wind,
and the surf repeating to the sand
all those things you never said

*

stars glow like embers in your eyes,
you snuggle up to the arched hip
of the crescent moon-
the sky laughs softly,
how could I have believed you were mine?

*

leaves scatter
on marble tombs,
there’s a cold wind out tonight,
the cemetery gate still creaks, love,
come, bring the quiet and the wine

Fujiwara no Teika’s Tanka Technique 4: Conviction of feeling – ushintei, in which the poet approaches “the art with the utmost seriousness and concentration” and the speaker’s feelings pervade the imagery and rhetoric of the poem.

The Trouble with Tanka-3