Izumi Shikibu Quotes & Sayings

If the one I waited for came now,
What should I do?
This morning's garden filled with snow
Is far too lovely
For footsteps to mar. — Izumi Shikibu

Things I Want Decided

Which shouldn't exist
in this world,
the one who forgets
or the one
who is forgotten?

Which is better,
to love
one who has died
or not to see
each other when you're alive?

Which is better,
the distant lover
you long for
or the one you see daily
without desire?

Which is the least unreliable
among fickle things -
the swift rapids,
a flowing river,
or this human world? — Izumi Shikibu

In this world
love has no color
yet how deeply
my body
is stained by yours. — Izumi Shikibu

Even when a river of tears courses through this body, the flame of love cannot be quenched. — Izumi Shikibu

Come quickly
as soon as these blossoms open, they fall. This world exists as a sheen of dew on flowers. — Izumi Shikibu

For a moment
he became smoke.
How intimate,
now,
the cloudy sky. — Izumi Shikibu

Although I try / to hold the single thought / of Buddha's teaching in my heart, / I cannot help but hear / the many crickets' voices calling as well. — Izumi Shikibu

Watching the moon at midnight, solitary, mid-sky, I knew myself completely, no part left out. — Izumi Shikibu

Perhaps, if I make a friend
of the mountain cuckoo
in this world,
he will talk to me
when we cross the mountain of death — Izumi Shikibu

Even if I now saw you only once, I would long for you through worlds, worlds, worlds. — Izumi Shikibu

In love longing I listen to the monk's bell. I will never forget you even for an interval short as those between the bell notes. — Izumi Shikibu

The one close to me now; even my own body
these too will soon become clouds, floating in different directions. — Izumi Shikibu

Rather than recall
in these flowers
the fragrance of the past,
I would like to hear this nightingale's voice,
to know if his song is as sweet. — Izumi Shikibu