Classic Poem

In the past, a woman who loved love wondered how she might meet a man of deep feeling. Since she had no way of coming out and saying so, she made up a story about a dream. She called three of her children and told them about it. Two of them made unfeeling responses and dismissed it. The third son, detecting its import, said, " A good man will surely come to you, " and with that the woman looked very pleased.
Since other men are quite without feeling, the son thought he might manage somehow to have her meet the Ariwara middle captain. He ran into the captain when he was out hunting and, taking the bridle of his horse on the road, told him of the situation. The captain was moved by pity and went to sleep with her. Afterward, since he did not appear again, the woman went to his house and peered in at him. The man caught a glimpse of her and said:
One year short
of a hundred
with her thinning hair,
I see a vision
of one who seems to love me.
Seeing that he looked as if he were about to leave, she returned home in haste, bumping against brambles and briars, and lay down. As the woman had done, the man stood outside peering in at her secretly. The woman, preparing to sleep, complained in verse:

On a narrow mat
with a single robe for cover,
again tonight
must I lie here alone
without the one I long for?
The man was moved and spent the night with her.
It is a rule of this world that people are considerate of those they love and unfeeling toward those they do not love, but this man had a heart that made no such distinctions.