TAKAMURA, Kotaro

In Praise Of Love

Carnal desire that knows no bounds

Is a rising surge of awesome force,

Among the sweat and leaping flames

Salamanders are twisting and turning.

The snow blizzard is celebrating tonight

Cleaving the hushed air with shouts of ecstasy,

We too are broken by beautiful forces,

Steeping our bodies in rivers of passion

We breathe a rosy inflamed mist

And reflected in the jewels of Indra's net

We constantly shape and re-shape ourselves.

The miracle of life hidden in winter,

The raw heat of underground winter shoots,

Everything burning with the beat of time,

Our bodies vibrate with electric currents of ecstasy,

Our skin becomes wonderfully awake,

Our insides churn with the excitement of being alive,

Our hair shines luminously,

Fingers gain a life of their own, crawling over our bodies,

And then out of the garble of words

A world of truth suddenly

Reveals itself above us

Full of light, full of blessing,

Every separate thing joined in unison,

Poison and nectar mixed together,

Our bodies convulse in unbearable agony

And as we reach ultimate ecstasy, light streams into dark labyrinths.

Warmly buried in the snow,

Melting into nature,

Wanting to go on making love for ever,

Far from the world's eyes, giving thanks for being alive.

Translation: Paul ARCHER