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Heroics or Dactylics

Force me (and force me you must if I do it) to write in heroics,
Taking (as model in English) the meter of Homer and Virgil.
Leave me, O leave me at least my own hero, my own field of battle.
Sing then, O Goddess! O Muse! or in whatever name thou delightest,
Neither a cut-throat on land nor a vagabond over the ocean,
Offering me sacksful of wind . . I can buy them as cheaply of Russell,
Palmerston, Grey, Aberdeen, Jockey Derby, or Letterman Graham.

At the Start of Autumn

For long parted from a sake gourd,
I've been familiar with the smells of herbs.
My gaunt face mirrored in the water,
with cool delight I comb the frost on my hair.
This still night the clear River lies white,
the fall sun now yellow during the day.
At times I pluck the stringed paulownia:
for a while it helps me console myself.