A Beautiful Woman’s Eyebrow                                                    

—The Countess of Cloud—

Longing for home, she matured into a woman,
making her eyebrows grow long and curved!
Born between the ocean and the wind,
she was raised in the wisdoms of native customs.

Stepping out of the intense blue canopy, her graceful body
draped in white cloth of bird feathers, dazzles
as if she is about to dance a waltz.

Her face, hidden behind a fan, spread out like sunlight,
the plump hands, deflecting her arrogant smiles,
clearly quiver more than the princess’ hands that hold a holl.

To the mountain hut when she returns, tired,
even the fragrance of flowers recalls her sorrow,
at the sound of a cold flute she unfastens her garments.

The flaring thought inside her heart, like a burning candle—
is it self-reproach for caring about someone so deeply?
Below her feet surges the full tide of evening glow.

Moonlight enters the trunks of trees below where it is cool.
Scattering the rose branches which she has pruned away,
toward the fog where she is going, I can almost see.

Translator’s notes: The Countess of Cloud is the title of a painting. A Holl is a carved piece of ivory that was held by royalty when they appear in the court before the king.