Misery holds me fixed,
And I would eagerly cut loose those roots
To become a floating plant --
I shall yield myself up utterly
If the inviting stream might be relied upon.
(Tr. Brower & Miner)
***
This body
grown fragile, floating,
a reed cut from its roots...
If a stream would ask me
to follow, I'd go, I think.
(Tr. Hirshfield & Aratami)
***
Wretched that I am --
A floating water weed
Broken from its roots --
If a stream should beckon,
I would follow it, I think.
(Tr. ???)
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"When Bun'ya Yasuhide was named a third-ranking provincial official in Mikawa, he sent
Komachi a message: `Can you not set out for some sightseeing in the countryside?' She
composed this poem by way of reply." (Tr. Helen Craig McCullough, IM, p. 170).
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