今天上课读到的一段话，顺手牵羊帖到博客里，供英文和诗歌爱好者参阅。

“Japanese poetry has its seeds in the human heart,and takes form in the countless leaves that are words.  So much happens to us while we live in this world that we must voice the thoughts that are in our hearts, conveying them through the things we see and the things we hear.  We hear the bush warbler singing in the flowers or the voice of the frogs that live in the water and know that among all living creatures there is not one that does not have its song.  It is poetry that, without exerting force, can move heaven and earth, wake the feelings of the unseen gods and spirits, soften the relations between man and woman and soothe the heart of the fierce warrior”

—Ki no Tsurayuki, from his preface to the Kokinshū,