Possibly inappropriate responses to 1100-year-old poems: When a female singer/entertainer seeing off a male friend traveling to Kyushu* for a hot-spring cure writes (in Kokinshu #387):
I want to tell her to ask the elves about what farewells are like when you're immortal. Go ahead, ask them. I dare you.
* An arduous journey that suggests he was doing it for health reasons -- and was in serious condition.
---L.
inochi dani kokoro ni kanau mono naraba nani ka wakare no kanashikaramashi | If only our lifespans somehow corresponded to our hearts' desires, would separation still be something so agonizing? |
I want to tell her to ask the elves about what farewells are like when you're immortal. Go ahead, ask them. I dare you.
* An arduous journey that suggests he was doing it for health reasons -- and was in serious condition.
---L.