I was at the street shops, seated below the canvas and drinking my sake innocent to the world and lost to my cup when she walked past smooth, elegant, slow-time her eyes straight and her manner modest O I only had eyes for her that was all there was, that desire as she glided through the street her kimono red and strewn with flowers in bloom her scent lingering in the air the gold clips gleaming in her black hair O the kimono was like a cloud ablaze that wrapped a Being from the Realm of Desires and my own being was in chaos and stirring and then just at the other end just at the bend the beauty turned her head and she cast her eyes on me, just a flitting look O the beauty looked back and it is on me she cast her binding gaze
And now, for me, as for a madman there is no looking back I must go where she beckons
poem based on print “Beauty looking back” by Hishikawa Moronobu (1618-1694)