WINTER HAS COME

Winter has come.
The white yatsude flowers have disappeared,
The gingko trees are like brooms.

Winter, piercing as a gimlet, has come.
Winter, disliked by men,
Winter, betrayed by plants, left behind by insects, has come.

Winter,
Come to me, come to me,
I am the strength of winter, winter is my prey.

Sink into it, thrust through it.
Make a fire, bury it with snow.
Winter has come like a blade.