April is National Poetry Month.

Waka, or Japanese poetry, flourished in the court culture of the 6th to the 14th century in Japan. One of the well-known waka poets of this period was Ono no Komachi (小野 小町, c. 825 – c. 900). She was one of the Rokkasen (六歌仙, “six poetry immortals) of the early Heian period and was renowned for her unusual beauty. She also counts among the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals, but not much about her life is known for certain. Here’s one of her poems included as #9 in Fujiwara no Teika’s Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (百人一首), a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese waka by one hundred poets.

花の色はうつりにけりな
いたづらに
わが身世にふる
ながめせしまに

English Translation:
A life in vain.
My looks, talents faded
like these cherry blossoms
paling in the endless rains
that I gaze out upon, alone.