Classic Poem

Too sacred to utter aloud,
too awesome even to speak of,
he who in Asuka on the Makami plains
established in awesome splendor
the celestial heavenly palace
and now hides divinely in the rocks,
our great lord of the eight corners,
in the northern lands he commands and rules,
crossed Mount Fuwa of the evergreen trees,
and on the plain of Wazami of the Korean swords
descended from heaven to his temporary palace:
let us conquer all beneath heaven
and bring peace and rule to the lands,
let us summon the glorious troops
from the Eastern Lands where birds cry
to vanquish the unruly peoples
and conquer the defiant lands.
Thus by the sun prince appointed to the task,
to his glorious body he girded his sword,
in his glorious hand he grasped his bow,
and as he called the troops into battle,
the sound of the summoning drums
was like the booming voice of thunder
and the sound of the blowing horns,
like the roar of a hunting tiger,
terrified the enemy multitudes.
The rippling of the hoisted banners
wafting and waving in the wind
was like the fires that alight on the plains
when spring arrives, emerging from winter,
and the resounding of the bowstrings
was so awesome to hear
it felt like a whirlwind was blowing
through the snow in a winter forest;
and the swarm of arrows that flew
came scattering down like a snowstorm,
and the defiant as they stood,
like the dew and the frost destined to perish,
like flying birds were fighting to the last,
when from the sacred shrine of Watarai
a divine wind suddenly blew forth,
the heavenly clouds concealed the sun,
and they were covered by an eternal darkness.
Thus was conquered the land of rice and reed plains,
which being divine, he firmly ruled,
and our great lord of the eight corners,
since he governed the realm beneath heaven,
we thought it would be for a myriad ages,
but just at the time of the flourishing blossoms,
the glorious halls of our great lord the prince
we decorate as his divine palace
and the people who served his glorious halls,
wearing long robes of fine white hemp,
on the plain of the Halls of Haniyasu,
every single striking red day,
like wild beasts lie prostrated,
and when the gem-black evenings come,
look up to the glorious palace
and crawl around like quail:
they would serve, but there is no one to serve,
and wailing like spring birds
their sorrow does not pass,
their pain is not exhausted,
as on the plain of chattering Kudara
in divine burial they bury him,
and Kinoe palace, fair in the morning,
as his eternal palace he builds high
and being divine, rests there in peace.
And yet the palace of Mount Kagu,
which our lord built to stand
for a myriad ages, who can doubt
that it will outlast a myriad ages?
As we look up at it, as if to heaven,
with cords of gems let us mourn him in sorrow,
though we be full of awe.

Two Short Poems

He has left to rule the celestial heavens,
our lord for whom we grieve
with no regard for the days and the months.
In the enclosed marsh of Haniyasu Lake
the courtiers are lost
and do not know which way to go.