Songs of Love and Longing

Endless autumn nights,
almost unbearably long,
are not long enough
for one to finally overcome
the loneliness of our love

Late evening finally comes:
I unlatch the door
and quietly await
the one
who greets me in my dreams.

Where is the dark seed
that grows the forget-you plant?
Searching, now I see
it grows in the frozen heart
of one who has murdered love.

The soft autumn winds
bring echoes of a koto
played in the distance.
Why must the whispered refrain
remind me I love in vain?

I long for him most
during those long moonless nights.
I lie awake, hot, 
the growing fires of passion
bursting, blazing in my heart.

I worried:  might you
come here; might I go there;
might we meet again?
Then, at last, the basful moon:
I slept with my door unlatched.

I cannot ask you
when, exactly, you plan to leave.
Surely, when you go,
like a single drop of dew
I will vanish from this world.