"You Say 'I Will Come'"

You say, "I will come."
And you do not come.
Now you say, "I will not come."
So I shall expect you.
Have I learned to understand you?


Translated from the Japanese by Kenneth Rexroth


"You Say 'I Will Come'" by Lady Otomo No Sakanoe from 100 Poems from the Japanese, translated by Kenneth Rexroth. Reprinted with the permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.