Peter Macmillan > Quotes

“How the night deepens. A ribbon of the whitest frost is stretched across the bridge of magpie wings the lovers will cross.”
― Peter Macmillan, One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse

“Our night together
was like a fleeting dream,
but when I dozed off
it appeared to me again,
even fainter still.”
― Peter Macmillan, The Tales of Ise

“If a thousand nights
could be made into one
I still could not tell you
all the ways I love you
before the cock began to crow.”
― Peter Macmillan, The Tales of Ise

“Dear Cuckoo,
though you have many nests,
I love you still,
as long as I can always
hear you sing in mine.”
― Peter Macmillan, The Tales of Ise

“His poem was a mediocre effort from a person famous for his rakish behaviour. And it showed disrespect to Her Highness.”
― Peter Macmillan, The Tales of Ise