Bonsai of Thoughts (Translated)

Bonsai of Thoughts: One Hundred Forty-Seven

1. The day's work is done.
Yet the melancholy farmer does not return home;
sitting by the river's edge
he thinks of his recently departed wife.

2. With you before me,
rather than ask me to preserve my virginity,
tell me instead to die!

3. Why ask a thousand times
what I want!
A thousand times I've answered:
I want only you!

4. Do you know
your lover has also promised me
he will never leave!

5. : Will you never understand my sorrow?
: Can a reflection ever pierce through the mirror?

6. Seeing the bangles on the girl's wrists,
mistaking them for snares,
the crow in fear won't even approach
to eat the rice she scattered.

7. With trembling eyes,
in the heart of a caged bird,
the newlywed girl saw
her husband leaving her to return abroad.

8. Pressing your chest hard against the wall,
standing on the tips of your ten toes,
even after making your whole foot ache, you say
he did nothing for you!?

9. One whose house has burned to ash,
whose entire family is dead,
even he...
feels thirst for water.

10. A night of rain.
In two separate rooms
two strangers—
a lustful man, a lustful woman!

11. Friends have vanished.
The trees today stand leafless.
We too have grown older...
yet the thirst for love has not diminished.

12. Some breasts, thighs, hips
still bear witness today
to the scratches of his nails—
and he dares dissect my character!

13. You desired me, didn't you!
Yet having possessed my body you turn away!?

14. To those who steal coins
even from a blind beggar's bowl,
you're asking them to beg for me!
You'd better forget me instead!

15. If you fear
being caught...
then blindfold my eyes
before you take me!
Having you, I'm willing
to spend the rest of life blind!

16. The knot in your hair bun
has not even come loose yet,
and you
already want to leave!

17. Where did you learn to kiss like this?
From books?
Then please remember to send me the book
that teaches how to be satisfied with just this kiss!

18. In the wind's blow
the banyan's aged leaves fall,
and with them fall
the heart's failed dreams.

19. Only when the flute plays in perfect tune
does the flutist glimpse his beloved!

20. Don't close your eyes
for a little while longer, beloved!
Let the tears of love
remain held back a little while longer!
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