The Cushion

Your arm should only be
A spring night's dream;
If I accepted it to rest my head upon
There would be rumours
And no delight.

From the Japanese of the daughter of Taira-no Tsu-gu-naka.

Edward Powys Mathers

Edward Powys Mathers was an English translator and poet, best known for translating the French Orientalist J.C. Mardrus's translation of 'The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night' in 1923. In addition to translations, Powys Mathers was an influential figure in the realm of cryptic crosswords, devising some of the most challenging puzzles for 'The Observer'. His translations have been lauded for their literary beauty and for introducing English-speaking audiences to classic Persian, Arabic, and Turkish poetry.

Edward Powys Mathers

Moallaka

Edward Powys Mathers, Simple Poetry

A Single Night

Edward Powys Mathers, Simple Poetry

I Asked My Love

Edward Powys Mathers, Simple Poetry

Three Queens

Edward Powys Mathers, Simple Poetry

English

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A Single Night

Was one night,
And that a night
Without much sleep,
Enough to make me love
All the life long?

From the Japanese of the wife of the Mikado Sui-toka In (twelfth century).

Edward Powys Mathers

Invitation

The chief flower
Of the plum-tree of this isle
Opens to-night....
Come, singing to the moon,
In the third watch.

From the Japanese of a Courtesan of Nagasaki.

Edward Powys Mathers

The Dream

I dreamed that I was touching her eyelids, and I awoke
To find her sleepy temples of rose jade
    For one heart-beat....

Though the moonlight beats upon the sea,
    There is no boat.

Lyric of Korea.

Edward Powys Mathers

To my Couch.

            When the toils of the day are done,
            When its trials and cares are o'er;
    When the forces of mind and body are run,
                    And the heart is sore;

            How welcome to me is thy rest -
            The breath of approaching peace,
    Which soothes the soul with a prospect blest
                    Of sweet release!

            May my life be such that so
            At its even this comfort I'll have!
    For sleep is the symbol of death, and thou
                    Art the sign of the grave.

W. M. MacKeracher

Too Short A Night

Lily of Streams lay by my side last night
And to my prayers gave answers of delight;
Day came before our fairy-tale was finished,
Because the tale was long, not short the night.

From the Persian of Abu-Said (978-1062).

Edward Powys Mathers

A Boat Comes In

Although I shall not see his face
For the low riding of the ship,
The three armorial oak-leaves on his cloak
Will be enough.
But what if I make a mistake
And call to the wrong man?
Or make no sign at all,
And it is he?

Japanese Street Song.

Edward Powys Mathers