とまらじな雲のはたてにしたふとも天つ空なる秋のわかれは

tomaraji na kumo no hatete ni shitau tomo
amatsu sora naru aki no wakare wa

Composed on the feelings [about] deep autumn.

"I let go the autumn
at the edge of the broad sky,
among the fleeting clouds"

Fujiwara no Tameie (1198-1275), Shokugo-shuui-wakashuu, 406.

I was pondering a lot on this translation. The key is here that the poet has an attachment to the autumn, even though it is already late, old, ready to disappear... A literal translation would be "At the extremity of the non-stopping clouds, [I] still cling to it/ [I] still yearn for it: the broad sky is the departing autumn..."

(C) 2007, Zoltan Barczikay.