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That spring long ago
at Naniwa in Tsu—
was it all a dream?
Now only dead leaves on the reeds
rustle in the passing wind.

— Saigyo Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology (1991)

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More quotes by Saigyo

The cherries'
only fault:
the crowds
that gather
when they bloom.

Let me not spend my life
lamenting the world’s sorrows
for above
in the wide sky
the moon shines pure

Gazing at the Moon: Buddhist Poems of Solitude (2021)

If not for solitude,
how dismal my life would be!

Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology (1991)

Even a person
free of passion
would be moved to sadness:
autumn evening in a marsh
where snipes fly up.

It creates a heart
even in those among us
who think of themselves
as indifferent to all things—
the world. this first wind of autumn.

Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology (1991)

All Saigyo quotes →

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Saigyo (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.