Diaries of Court Ladies
The lady caught cold. Though not serious she suffered. The Prince often inquired for her and at last she answered, saying:
A little better. The thread of life thinned down and it seemed to be going to break, but now it is dear to me because of you. Is it because I am deep in sin?
He wrote back:
Gladly do I hear it:
The thread of your life
Cannot easily be broken,
For it is tied together,
With pledges of long-enduring affection.
The end of the year was at hand. The first day of the Frost month seemed like a day of early spring, but the next morning it snowed. The Prince sent a poem:
Since the god-age it has snowed,
It is a known thing,
Yet that snow seems very fresh this morning!
She returned an answer:
First snow! I see it young every winter,
Yet my face grows old
As Winter comes.
Days were passed in exchanging these nothings. Again his letter:
I become impatient to see you, and just now wanted to go to you, but my friends have met here to compose poems together.
She wrote:
Had you no time to come? | ||
Then I would go to you. | ||
O that I knew | an even way of love. the art of composing poems. |