The Narrow Road to Oku, redux

Here's the opening of the poem as translated by the masterful Donald Keene:

The months and days are the travelers of eternity. The years that come and go are also voyagers. Those who float away their lives on ships or who grow old leading horses are forever journeying, and their homes are wherever their travels take them. Many of the men of old died on the road, and I too for years past have been stirred by the sight of a solitary cloud drifting with the wind to ceaseless thoughts of roaming. . . .

The Narrow Road to Oku

So the first single from our new Octagon record has hit the interweb.

It's track number three on the record; the song is called "The Narrow Road to Oku."

"The Narrow Road to Oku" is also a collection of poetry by Matsuo Basho.

When he was forty years old, he decided to take a long trip towards Oku, in the Japanese interior.

Here is a link to the song: www.myspace.com/theoctagon

Here is one of the poems:

I walked all through that day, ever wishing to return after seeing the strange sights of the far north, but not really believing in the possibility, for I knew that departing like this on a long journey in the second year of Genroku I should only accumulate more frosty hairs on my head as I approached the colder regions. When I reached the village of Soka in the evening, my bony shoulders were sore because of the load I had carried, which consisted of a paper coat to keep me warm at night, a light cotton gown to wear after the bath, scanty protection against the rain, writing equipment, and gifts from certain friends of mine. I wanted to travel light, of course, but there were always certain things I could not throw away either for practical or sentimental reasons.

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