a brocade

[radhardened]

Even the almighty
gods of old
never knew
such beauty:
on the river Tatsuta
in autumn sunlight
a brocade—

reds flowing above,

blue water below.

[poem by Ariwara no Narihira; translation by Donald Keene]

千早ぶる
神代もきかず
龍田川
からくれないに
水くくるとは

在原業平朝臣

(This poem is part of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.)