Kamo no Chōmei — The Dew May Disappear While the Flower Remains

Death in the morning, at evening another birth –

this is the way of things,

no different from the bubbles on the stream.

Where do they come from, these newborn?

Where do the dead go?

I do not know.

Nor do I know why our hearts should fret over these brief dwellings,

or our eyes find such delight in them.

An owner and his home vie in their impermanence,

as the vanishing dew upon the morning glory.

The dew may disappear while the flower remains –

yet it lives on only to fade with the morning sun.

Or perhaps the flower wilts while the dew still lies –

but though it stays,

it too will be gone before the evening.

Kamo no Chōmei

Hōjōki “An Account of My Hut”

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