Monday 18 February 2008

the floating bridge of dreams




The floating bridge of dreams

of the brief spring night of love

has now broken off:

dawn sky with a wisp of cloud

taking its leave of the peak.


Haru no yo no

Yume no ukihashi

Todae shite

Mine ni wakaruru

Yokogumo no sora


(Fujiwara Teika, translation: Paul St John Mackintosh)




6 comments:

  1. Less than a day in paradise
    and a thousand years have passed among men.
    While the pieces are still being laid on the board
    All things have changed to emptiness.
    Nothing is what it was but the stone bridge.

    --Li Po.

    Some wonderful images. Thanks.

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  2. Thank you for coming by! Yes, what a difference between my floating bridge and the stone one. Wonderful Li Po, the wanderer.

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  3. I'm happy you liked them. It is actually the reflection of the same Uji bridge, in Uji near Kyoto, off which Ukifune is supposed to have jumped. Only it is the modern version of it, not stone but some kind of metal.

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  4. Those images are among my favourites. Always wanted you to know that. They meet the fear for the unknown, the pale difference between what it is and what it can never be... A floating bridge of endless dreams. Just perfect.

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  5. between what it is and what it can never be... you know that as well as I do, silky gentle.

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