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Autumn’s Fairy Tale
ーan ode to Yugen
The golden eve allures
As autumn’s sun illumes,
Gleaming in rose subdued.
Replacing clouds that consume,
The yonder storm forlorn.
Upon the fairy leaves,
And flora so pale and lone,
Lie tears of dew in eve,
Glistening still, divine.
In the blessèd woods, enshrined.
You raise the curtains obscure,
The veil of silken mist—
A vision to endure,
A realm of alluring bliss.
The shades of dusk in bloom,
The autumn’s sun subdued,
Gleaming in rose, illumes,
The golden eve allures.
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Poet’s Note: Yugen is an aesthetic ideal for that which is alluring, but concealed and ineffable. It is notable in the choreography of Japanese Noh Drama and Waka Poetry. I have employed the assonance of “u” and “o” vowels, which Waka poets believed create an alluring effect in composition.
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Yoshikaze Kawakami studied classical Japanese literature in Tokyo. He has published translations of Noh theatre in Poetry and Wordplay in Noh Theatre.
Your imagery polished with evocative words is superb.
I agree with the Waka poets, Yoshikaze, that the the assonance of “u” and “o” creates an alluring effect, as in your composition.
The poem well exemplifies, then surprisingly in the second stanza, addresses yugen. But appropriately, it ends by repeating its opening lines, to present again the beginning vision, with curtains and veil, as best. For a single line to express the concept, “The shades of dusk in bloom” is superb.