I was asked by a WWII veteran if I could please translate this short poem for him, however I'm not advanced enough to read the looseness of the brush strokes here. If any of you can it would be GREATLY appreciated!
That's a Saigyō's well-known waka 心なき身にもあはれは知られけり鴫立つ沢の秋の夕暮れ [Kokoro naki mi ni mo aware wa shirare keri shigi tatsu sawa no aki no yūgure], and the followings are English translations of the poem I found. The most literal translation is the last one.
While denying his heart,
Even a priest must feel his body know
The depth of a sad beauty:
From a marsh at autumn twilight,
Snipe that rise to wing away.
from Japanese Court Poetry
Thought I was free
Of passions, so this melancholy
Comes as a surprise:
A woodcock shoots up from marsh
Where autumn's twilight falls.
from Mirror for the Moon: A Selection of Poems by Saigyō translated by William R. LaFleur
Even a person free of passion
would be moved
to sadness:
autumn evening
in a marsh where snipes fly up
from Poems of a Mountain Home translated by Burton Watson
Wow, thank you so much, you have no idea how much this will make his day. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me with this!! Thanks stranger!!! :emoji_bow:
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