Sympathy Flowers and Funeral Flowers - Newcastle
Kakinonoto Hitomaro - "I Loved Her Like the Leaves"
I loved her like the leaves,
The lush green leaves of spring
That pulled down the willows
on the bank's edge
where we walked
while she was of this world
I built my life
on her.
But man cannot flout the laws of this world.
To the shimmering
wide fields
hidden by the white cloud,
White as a white silk scarf
She soared away like the morning bird
hidden from our world like the setting sun.
The child - the
gift she left behind-
He cries for food; but always
finding nothing that I might give him.
I pick him up and hold him in my arms.
On the pillows
where we lay,
My wife and I, as one,
I pass the daylight lonely 'til the dusk.
The black night sighing 'til the dawn.
I grieve
and I grieve and know no remedy.
I ache and know no road where I might meet her.