Hokku 46 — Summary

In three short lines, the speaker turns away from two things that usually feel inviting: voice and light. “Speak not again, Voice!” is a plea for quiet, but it sounds almost desperate. The speaker says silence “washes off sins,” as if speech and noise have left a stain, and only stillness can make the speaker feel clean again. Then light is banished too. Where many people long for brightness and clarity, this speaker wants the opposite—a dim, silent place to recover or hide. The exclamation marks give the lines an urgent, passionate edge, as if the speaker is not calmly meditating but firmly shutting the world out. The mood is private and penitent, mixing relief at silence with a strong sense of guilt or exhaustion.