A Hundred Verses from Old Japan · 31 of 101

30. Tadamine Nibu: Nibu no Tadamine

30

Tadamine Nibu

Nibu No Tadamine

Ariake no Tsurenaku mieshi Wakare yori Akatsuki bakari Uki-mono wa nashi.

I HATE the cold unfriendly moon, That shines at early morn; And nothing seems so sad and grey, When I am left forlorn, As day's returning dawn.

The writer lived to the age of ninety-nine, and died in the year 965. He was, like the composer of the previous verse, one of the compilers of the Kokinshiu, and was also the father of the author of verse No. 41.

The picture seems to show the poet all alone looking out at the early dawn, but the moon is not visible.