play us a tune
O delightful playful woman;
your pose and your head turned in casual ease
and your shamisen held in theatrical style
all that spontaneity is itself a performance -
but still, play us a tune;
bring down your bachi and pluck at the three strings
and bring us from Japan distant
and Japan past
O bring us the delights of life
that exudes radiant on your face and limbs…
Play your shamisen;
begin, O delightful playful woman

Smooth pale skin that glows
Features like innocent dolls

Silky ebony hair that shines
Waving shimmering stars

Eyebrows that perfectly frames
And enticing Obsidian eyes

Perfectly carved jaw and nose
Velvet lips like Grandifloras

Put on the Kanzashi flowers
Colorful and bright Kimonos
Obi hanging down to ankles

Walk, dance with elegance
Shamisen in her hands
Showers colorful melodies
Such beautiful skills
Purely fetching artisans

1)
see the yurei
the ghost of Oyuki…
hair free of the ornate pins
and scattered over her shoulders
she hovers in her white robe
her hands loose
and she’s covered in mist below her waist
she has a smile, her eyes turned inward
and you had better not wish
she’d cast her glance on you
just a look, just a glance

2)
Oyuki was the sweet love
of Maruyama Okyo
Oyuki was as delicate
as the plum blossoms outside her window
she sang songs of love
and covered Okyo with sweet kisses
Ah, she was young
and she played the shamisen
and she had such pleasing arts
and uttered such words
they lingered days and nights in Okyo’s mind
But she died young…
beautiful, like the cherry blossoms in the morning
and gone, faded in the evening

3)
and at nights
all Okyo could see
in dreams and in the dark
was gentle Oyuki, sweet Oyuki
hovering in the mist
floating, lingering, smiling
in his dreams, and in the dark
and he painted, Okyo painted
the Ghost of Oyuki
a portrait of his beloved Oyuki
and that freed him into sleep and peace
into quiet and calm


4)
but at nights
if you see
in dreams and in the dark
the form and beauty of Oyuki
floating, lingering, smiling
in your dreams and in the dark
then you must offer a petal, a dumpling
or what must please her
so she will go, that
gentle Oyuki, sweet Oyuki
or you might offer her a poem,
a soothing one
as I did, and she might plant a cold kiss on your cheek
a cold one
as she flits past, gliding away in all the mist
to see who she might catch
with no love of art, with no skill to please

“The heart dies a slow death, shedding each hope like leaves. Until there are none. No hopes. Nothing remains.” –Sayuri, Memoirs of a Geisha


I bet the Furies are laughing
For such misery Fate has made me.
Anymore and I’ll do more than pitying,
A hopeless case as bad as it’ll be.

Maybe it’s all being orchestrated
And what’s missing is a cut-off thread.
Never a love like this be requited,
Oh,throw me by all means, good and dead.

No wonder, I’m gluttonous of desire,
And here, I’m Cerberus’ best feast.
Even as I struggle away from the fire,
Well,I’m still caught in the least.

Go ahead, feed on my carcass,
Likewise, suffer like Fantine.
Singing in misery till I pass,
Carry me away to a lake with pristine.

I wish then to not hear a lull,
Let that gentle hand rescue my soul.
Now my heart’s safe from hurt or fall,
Ready to be given for a better goal.

Good riddance from the hands of Eris,
But am I really cleared off?
Romance,not even found out of Paris,
Never mine to be with or to scoff.

So until then, I’ll dance alone
With an accompaniment of a shamisen,
Seeking my love to be requited on the zone
Behind a fan and mask smothered by a writer’s pen.

Don’t forget in my sleeves, a swan song
Is waiting to be released so…
Pick what appeases you for long,
Be it I’m Not That Girl, No Good Deed, or Let It Go.