Well, I couldn't find the exact info to confirm my memory of Heian poetry, but basically there's this protocol in renga (it's a collaborative verse creation form- here is the Wiki). One of the rules is that only once in an extremely high number of lines (perhaps one in a thousand, but again, I can't remember) can you write about a bug's death cry. It is considered an extremely melancholy image- the creature's insignificant death going unheard. That is what chronic pain feels like to me sometimes.
The image of leaves and an insect being crushed into the ground is taken from a tanka where the poet mourns a cherry blossom (桜) trampled into the pavement.
The lack of subject is very common in all Japanese poetry. You don't need a subject grammatically in Japanese. The lack of subjectivity, incidentally, or not, as I consciously chose the form, also mimics the state of mind in an instance of extreme debilitating pain.
In the Kokinshu, the stages of love were mirrored by particular seasons-- Spring sees an initial attraction, summer finds unrequited love or some similar obstacle and sleepless nights spent pining, by autumn the sexual encounter has occurred and interest in each other is waning, and finally winter witnesses the death of the affair (similarly, in the Tale of Genji nearly everyone dies in the winter-- if you want to read about seasons and love affairs- go here for a decent article). Therefore, autumn is the last stage before death, the process of dying. Yes, I have used an unpleasant image in that of the falling leaf.
Anyway, I suppose that I actually used multiple themes but they all related to Japanese poetry, so I'm letting it be.
P: 4
M: 7
(aka, it is a relatively good day)
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