The Moment

The Moment by Samuel HaNagid (993-1056)

She said: “Rejoice

For God has brought you

to your fiftieth year in the world!”

But she had no inkling

That , for my part, there is no difference

Between my own days which have gone by

And the distant days of Noah

In the rumored past.

I have nothing in the world

But the hour in which I am.

It pauses for a moment, and then

Like a cloud

Moves on.

Clear serene sound…

The Yoshiwara Poet Omatsu 1861

In the rubbish pile
mixed with ordure
the pine cricket’s
voice still gives
a clear serene sound

– The geisha poet Hakitome Omatsu