Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/168

164 Next day I was banished from the council chamber. On that noble ground, no room for my anxious feet; From high heaven came accusations, to whom could I cry? I left the company of the virtuous, the ranks of the adorned; To me alone the sea-encircling dew came not. I listened outside the palace to the sound of singing; Below the stairs, apart, I watched the ladies on the terrace. I returned in the dusk to face my wife in shame; Through the night I lay talking with my children in bed. Great faults and small merit were mine, I know. For mercy and light penalty I am forever grateful. Though I may never again enter the gate of my lord, I shall speak from this far land and Heaven may hear me. Nakao-ō (Early Ninth Century)

Composed when her father, the Emperor Saga, visited the Kamo Shrine, where she was a priestess

Princess Uchiko (807-847)

Washing my hair

I look at the comb, I look at the water, I look at what has fallen. Age and youth are far apart; I cannot have them both.