1
Sleepless                   Ise no Taifu early eleventh century/Japan

Sleepless... tired of thinking...
turn over... and look dumbly out at my dark garden –
to see some careless hand meantimes
has lighted lines of dew along the cabbageheads.


2
I come from foggy, faroff lands...           Amado Nervo 1870–1919/Mexico

I come from foggy, faroff lands.
The king is old, the king is sad.
My soul seeks only what is strange.
My soul loves what cannot be had.

You weep for dreams a world away.
You wait on loves that will not come.
Your eyes are sleepy, wet and wild,
like wind-dipped wings; your heart is numb.

Ah, both of us were born the same –
still seeking what cannot be had:
that foggy, faroff country where
the king is old, the king is sad.


3
Lullaby                   Anonymous (undated)/Myanmar
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