The Dark Side of the Net
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Sacred Texts
Japan
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p. 80
80
LADY HORIKAWA, IN ATTENDANCE ON THE DOWAGER EMPRESS TAIKEN
TAIKEN MON-IN HORIKAWA
Nagakaran
Kokoro mo shirazu
Kuro kami no
Midarete kesa wa
Mono wo koso omoe.
MY doubt about his constancy
Is difficult to bear;
Tangled this morning are my thoughts,
As is my long black hair.
I wonder--Does he care?
Lady Horikawa was the daughter of the First Adviser of State, Sane-kyo, who lived about the year 1142. In this verse she is anxiously pondering, how long her lover will continue to be true to her; and she discovers, that her ideas on the subject are as tangled and disordered as her hair is.
Next: 81. The Minister-of-the-Left of the Tokudai Temple: Go Tokudai-ji Sadaijin