Songs of a Cowherd/Plum Blossoms

by Itō Sachio

Plum Blossoms

The guests having departed,
The twilight is lonely.
Beneath the plum tree
I stand alone, a sharp wind
On my burning face.

The frozen earth crackles
Under my tread;
Bending beneath the vaulted boughs,
I cast the white plum blossoms
Against the dark sky.