First Love

Shimazaki Toson 1872 (Nakatsugawa) – 1943 (Tokyo)



you had swept back your bangs for the first time
when I saw you under the apple tree
the flower-comb in your hair
I thought you yourself were a flower too.

you stretched out your pale white hand gently
giving me an apple:
like the ripening red of the autumn fruit
my first feeling of love

my sigh, without any awareness
touched your hair
the joys of love's offerings
drinking your love...

under a tree in the apple orchard
nature's narrow road
who left this token here?
your question gave me a piercing pleasure.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 16, 2023

29 sec read
281

Quick analysis:

Scheme XABX AXXC XBXC XXXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 505
Words 96
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Shimazaki Toson

Tōson Shimazaki is the pen-name of Shimazaki Haruki, a Japanese author, active in the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa periods of Japan. He began his career as a romantic poet, but went on to establish himself as a major proponent of naturalism in Japanese fiction. more…

All Shimazaki Toson poems | Shimazaki Toson Books

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