Kaga no Chiyo (1703-1775)


okite mitsu / nete mitsu kaya no / hirosa kana

I sleep, I wake:
how wide
the empty bed.

Chiyo, married at nineteen, was widowed at twenty seven.


tombo tsuri / kyo wa doko made / itta yara

My little boy
catching dragonflies --
where has he run away?

Written after her only child, at the age of nine, passed away.