Sake Poetry:
Classic Senkin Muku “Pure”
(Senkin @Tochigi Pref.)

Written by Ryosuke
Translated by Jojo Brandel

A bundle of lilies, each one

floating on the lake

let’s speak so softly

that its pedals won’t come apart

 

your memory

is made by the light of the moon

and your cheeks

just barely red, who knows if you were really blushing

my body unchanged

trudging on

gloomy

year after year

 

in the end, my life

is scattered on the lake 

in piles of lilies

where all things warm

 

ebb and flow in the standing water