Ocean of Clouds

An ocean of clouds

rolls in waves across the sky,

carrying the moon

like a boat that disappears

into a thicket of stars.

- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (柿本人麻呂 c. 662 – 710)

Hitomaro  was a Japanese poet and aristocrat of the late Asuka period and served as court poet to at least three sovereigns: Emperor Temmu (r. 673-686), Empress Jitô (690-697) and Emperor Mommu (697-707). He was the most prominent of the poets included in the Man'yōshū, and is considered one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals of Japan.

Image: Dark Monsoon clouds menace Ilam Chiyabari's tea factory at Aitabare, Ilam. (2010)