Kitabı oku: «Japanese Literature», sayfa 18

THE PEARLS

 
Oh! he my prince, that left my side
        O'er the twain Lover Hills¹⁴³ to roam,
Saying that in far Kíshiu's tide
        He'd hunt for pearls to bring them home.
 
 
When will he come? With trembling hope
        I hie me on the busy street,
To ask the evening horoscope,
        That straightway thus gives answer meet—
 
 
The lover dear, my pretty girl,
        For whom thou waitest, comes not yet,
Because he's seeking ev'ry pearl
        Where out at sea the billows fret.
 
 
"He comes not yet, my pretty girl!
        Because among the riplets clear
He's seeking, finding ev'ry pearl;
        'Tis that delays thy lover dear.
 
 
"Two days at least must come and go,
        Sev'n days at most will bring him back;
'Twas he himself that told me so:—
        Then cease, fair maid, to cry Alack!"
 

Anon.

A DAMSEL CROSSING A BRIDGE

 
Across the bridge, with scarlet lacquer glowing,
That o'er the Katashiha's stream is laid,
All trippingly a tender girl is going,
In bodice blue and crimson skirt arrayed.
None to escort her: would that I were knowing
Whether alone she sleeps on virgin bed,
Or if some spouse has won her by his wooing:—
Tell me her house! I'll ask the pretty maid!
 

Anon.

SECRET LOVE

 
If as my spirit yearns for thine
Thine yearns for mine, why thus delay?
And yet, what answer might be mine
        If, pausing on her way,
        Some gossip bade me tell
Whence the deep sighs that from my bosom swell?
 
 
And thy dear name my lips should pass,
My blushes would our love declare;
No, no! I'll say my longing was
        To see the moon appear
        O'er yonder darkling hill;
Yet 'tis on thee mine eyes would gaze their fill.
 

Anon.

THE OMEN ¹⁴⁴

 
Yes! 'twas the hour when all my hopes
Seemed idle as the dews that shake
And tremble in their lotus-cups
By deep Tsurúgi's lake—
'Twas then the omen said:—
        "Fear not! he'll come his own dear love to wed."
What though my mother bids me flee
Thy fond embrace? No heed I take;
As pure, as deep my love for thee
As Kiyosúmi's lake.
One thought fills all my heart:—
        When wilt thou come no more again to part?
 

Anon.

A MAIDEN'S LAMENT

 
Full oft he swore, with accents true and tender,
"Though years roll by, my love shall ne'er wax old!"
And so to him my heart I did surrender,
Clear as a mirror of pure burnished gold;
 
 
And from that day, unlike the seaweed bending
To ev'ry wave raised by the summer gust,
Firm stood my heart, on him alone depending,
As the bold seaman in his ship doth trust.
 
 
Is it some cruel god that hath bereft me?
Or hath some mortal stol'n away his heart?
No word, no letter since the day he left me,
Nor more he cometh, ne'er again to part!
 
 
In vain I weep, in helpless, hopeless sorrow,
From earliest morn until the close of day;
In vain, till radiant dawn brings back the morrow,
I sigh the weary, weary nights away.
 
 
No need to tell how young I am and slender—
A little maid that in thy palm could lie:—
Still for some message comforting and tender,
I pace the room in sad expectancy.
 

The Lady Sakanouhe.

RAIN AND SNOW

 
Forever on Mikáne's crest,
        That soars so far away,
The rain it rains in ceaseless sheets,
        The snow it snows all day.
 
 
And ceaseless as the rain and snow
        That fall from heaven above,
So ceaselessly, since first we met,
        I love my darling love.
 

Anon.

MOUNT MIKASH

 
        Oft in the misty spring
The vapors roll o'er Mount Mikash's crest,
While, pausing not to rest,
The birds each morn with plaintive note do sing.
        Like to the mists of spring
My heart is rent; for, like the song of birds,
Still all unanswered ring
The tender accents of my passionate words.
        I call her ev'ry day
Till daylight fades away;
I call her ev'ry night
Till dawn restores the light;—
But my fond prayers are all too weak to bring
        My darling back to sight.
 

Akahito.

EVENING

 
From the loud wave-washed shore
        Wend I my way,
Hast'ning o'er many a flow'r,
At close of day—
        On past Kusaka's crest,
Onward to thee,
Sweet as the loveliest
        Flower of the lea!
 

Anon.

[Note.—A note to the original says: "The name of the composer of the above song was not given because he was of obscure rank," a reason which will sound strange to European ears.]

ELEGIES

ON THE DEATH OF THE MIKADO TENJI ¹⁴⁵

By One of His Ladies

 
Alas! poor mortal maid! unfit to hold
High converse with the glorious gods above,¹⁴⁶
Each morn that breaks still finds me unconsoled,
Each hour still hears me sighing for thy love.
 
 
Wert thou a precious stone, I'd clasp thee tight
Around mine arm; wert thou a silken dress
I'd ne'er discard thee, either day or night:—
Last night, sweet love! I dreamt I saw thy face.
 

ON THE DEATH OF THE POET'S MISTRESS

 
How fondly did I yearn to gaze
        (For was there not the dear abode
Of her whose love lit up my days?)
        On Karu's often-trodden road.
 
 
But should I wander in and out,
        Morning and evening ceaselessly,
Our loves were quickly noised about,
        For eyes enough there were to see.
 
 
So, trusting that as tendrils part
        To meet again, so we might meet,
As in deep rocky gorge my heart,
        Unseen, unknown, in secret beat.
 
 
But like the sun at close of day,
        And as behind a cloud the moon,
So passed my gentle love away,
        An autumn leaf ta'en all too soon.
 
 
When came the fatal messenger,
        I knew not what to say or do:—
But who might sit and simply hear?
        Rather, methought, of all my woe.
 
 
Haply one thousandth part might find
        Relief if my due feet once more,
Where she so often trod, should wind
        Through Karu's streets and past her door.
 
 
But mute that noise, nor all the crowd
        Could show her like, or soothe my care;
So, calling her dear name aloud,
        I waved my sleeve in blank despair.
 

Hitomaro.

ELEGY ON THE POET'S WIFE

 
The gulls that twitter on the rush-grown shore
When fall the shades of night,
That o'er the waves in loving pairs do soar
When shines the morning light—
'Tis said e'en these poor birds delight
To nestle each beneath his darling's wing
                That, gently fluttering,
Through the dark hours wards off the hoar-frost's might.
 
 
Like to the stream that finds
The downward path it never may retrace,
Like to the shapeless winds,
Poor mortals pass away without a trace:—
So she I love has left her place,
And, in a corner of my widowed couch,
Wrapped in the robe she wove me,
                I must crouch,
Far from her fond embrace.
 

Nibi.

ON THE DEATH OF PRINCE HINAMI

I

 
When began the earth and heaven,
By the banks of heaven's river¹⁴⁷
All the mighty gods assembled,
All the mighty gods in council.
And, for that her sov'reign grandeur
The great goddess of the day-star
Rul'd th' ethereal realms of heaven,
Downward through the many-piled
Welkin did they waft her grandson,
Bidding him, till earth and heaven,
Waxing old, should fall together,
O'er the middle land of reed-plains,
O'er the land of waving rice-fields,
Spread abroad his power imperial.
 

II

 
But not his Kiyomi's palace:—
'Tis his sov'reign's, hers the empire;
And the sun's divine descendant,
Ever soaring, passeth upward
Through the heav'n's high rocky portals.
 

III

 
Why, dear prince, oh! why desert us?
Did not all beneath the heaven,
All that dwell in earth's four quarters,
Pant, with eye and heart uplifted,
As for heav'n-sent rain in summer,
For thy rule of flow'ry fragrance,
For thy plenilune of empire?
Now on lone Mayúmi's hillock,
Firm on everlasting columns,
Pilest thou a lofty palace,
Whence no more, when day is breaking,
Sound thine edicts, awe-compelling.
Day to day is swiftly gathered,
Moon to moon, till e'er thy faithful
Servants from thy palace vanish.
 

Hitomaro.

ON THE DEATH OF THE NUN RIGUWAÑ

 
Ofttimes in far Corea didst thou hear
        Of our Cipango as a goodly land;
And so, to parents and to brethren dear
        Bidding adieu, thou sailed'st to the strand
Of these domains, that own th' imperial pow'r,
        Where glittering palaces unnumbered rise;
Yet such might please thee not, nor many a bow'r
        Where village homesteads greet the pilgrim's eyes:—
But in this spot, at Sahoyáma's base,
        Some secret influence bade thee find thy rest—
Bade seek us out with loving eagerness,
        As seeks the weeping infant for the breast.
And here with aliens thou didst choose to dwell,
        Year in, year out, in deepest sympathy;
And here thou buildest thee an holy cell;
        And so the peaceful years went gliding by.
But ah! what living thing mote yet avoid
        Death's dreary summons?—And thine hour did sound
When all the friends on whom thine heart relied
        Slept on strange pillows on the mossy ground.
So, while the moon lit up Kasuga's crest,
        O'er Sahogáha's flood thy corse they bore
To fill a tomb upon yon mountain's breast,
        And dwell in darkness drear for evermore.
No words, alas! nor efforts can avail:—
        Nought can I do, poor solitary child!
Nought can I do but make my bitter wail,
        And pace the room with cries and gestures wild,
Ceaselessly weeping, till my snowy sleeve
        Is wet with tears. Who knows? Perchance, again
Wafted, they're borne upon the sighs I heave,
        On 'Arima's far distant heights to rain.
 

Sakanouhe.

ON THE POET'S SON FURUBI

 
Sev'n are the treasures mortals most do prize,
        But I regard them not:—
One only jewel could delight mine eyes—
        The child that I begot.
 
 
My darling boy, who with the morning sun
        Began his joyous day;
Nor ever left me, but with child-like fun
        Would make me help him play;
 
 
Who'd take my hand when eve its shadows spread,
        Saying, "I'm sleepy grown;
'Twixt thee and mother I would lay my head:—
        Oh! leave me not alone!"
 
 
Then with his pretty prattle in mine ears,
        I'd lie awake and scan
The good and evil of the coming years,
        And see the child a man.
 
 
And, as the seaman trusts his bark, I'd trust
        That nought could harm the boy:—
Alas! I wist not that the whirling gust
        Would shipwreck all my joy!
 
 
Then with despairing, helpless hands I grasp'd
        The sacred mirror's¹⁴⁸ sphere;
And round my shoulder I my garments clasp'd,
        And prayed with many a tear:—
 
 
"'Tis yours, great gods, that dwell in heav'n on high,
        Great gods of earth! 'tis yours
To heed, or heed not, a poor father's cry,
        Who worships and implores!"
 
 
Alas! vain pray'rs, that more no more avail!
        He languished day by day,
Till e'en his infant speech began to fail,
        And life soon ebbed away.
 
 
Stagg'ring with grief I strike my sobbing breast,
        And wildly dance and groan:—
Ah! such is life! the child that I caress'd
        Far from mine arms hath flown.
 

SHORT STANZA ON THE SAME OCCASION

 
So young, so young! he cannot know the way:—
On Hades' porter I'll a bribe bestow,
That on his shoulders the dear infant may
Be safely carried to the realms below.
 

Attributed to Okura.

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS

VIEW FROM MOUNT KAGO

Composed by the Mikado Zhiyomei

 
Countless are the mountain-chains
Tow'ring o'er Cipango's plains;
But fairest is Mount Kago's peak,
Whose heav'nward soaring heights I seek,
And gaze on all my realms beneath—
Gaze on the land where vapors wreath
O'er many a cot; gaze on the sea,
Where cry the sea-gulls merrily.
Yes! 'tis a very pleasant land,
Fill'd with joys on either hand,
Sweeter than aught beneath the sky,
Dear islands of the dragon-fly!¹⁴⁹
 

THE MIKADO'S BOW ¹⁵⁰

 
When the dawn is shining,
He takes it up and fondles it with pride;
When the day's declining,
He lays it by his pillow's side.
        Hark to the twanging of the string!
This is the Bow of our great Lord and King!
Now to the morning chase they ride,
Now to the chase again at eventide:
Hark to the twanging of the string!
        This is the Bow of our great Lord and King!
 

Hashibito.

SPRING AND AUTUMN

 
When winter turns to spring,
Birds that were songless make their songs resound,
Flow'rs that were flow'rless cover all the ground;
Yet 'tis no perfect thing:—
I cannot walk, so tangled is each hill;
So thick the herbs I cannot pluck my fill.
        But in the autumn-tide
I cull the scarlet leaves and love them dear,
And let the green leaves stay, with many a tear,
        All on the fair hill-side:—
No time so sweet as that. Away! Away!
Autumn's the time I fain would keep alway.
 

Ohogimi.

SPRING

 
When winter turns to spring,
The dews of morn in pearly radiance lie,
The mists of eve rise circling to the sky,
And Kaminábi's thickets ring
With the sweet notes the nightingale doth sing.
 

Anon.

RECOLLECTIONS OF MY CHILDREN

 
        Ne'er a melon can I eat,
But calls to mind my children dear;
        Ne'er a chestnut crisp and sweet,
But makes the lov'd ones seem more near.
Whence did they come, my life to cheer?
        Before mine eyes they seem to sweep,
        So that I may not even sleep.
What use to me the gold and silver hoard?
        What use to me the gems most rich and rare?
        Brighter by far—aye! bright beyond compare—
The joys my children to my heart afford!
 

Yamagami-no Okura.

THE BROOK OF HATSÚSE

 
Pure is Hatsúse mountain-brook—
So pure it mirrors all the clouds of heaven;
Yet here no fishermen for shelter look
When sailing home at even:—
'Tis that there are no sandy reaches,
Nor sheltering beaches,
Where the frail craft might find some shelt'ring nook.
Ah, well-a-day! we have no sandy reaches:—
                But heed that not;
                Nor shelving beaches:—
                But heed that not!
Come a-jostling and a-hustling
O'er our billows gayly bustling:—
Come, all ye boats, and anchor in this spot!
 

Anon.

LINES TO A FRIEND

 
Japan is not a land where men need pray,
For 'tis itself divine:—
Yet do I lift my voice in prayer and say:—
"May ev'ry joy be thine!
And may I too, if thou those joys attain,
Live on to see thee blest!"
Such the fond prayer, that, like the restless main,
Will rise within my breast.
 

Hitomaro.

A VERY ANCIENT ODE

 
Mountains and ocean-waves
        Around me lie;
Forever the mountain-chains
        Tower to the sky;
Fixed is the ocean
        Immutably:—
Man is a thing of nought,
        Born but to die!
 

Anon.

THE BRIDGE TO HEAVEN ¹⁵¹

 
Oh! that that ancient bridge,
Hanging 'twixt heaven and earth, were longer still!
Oh! that yon tow'ring mountain-ridge
So boldly tow'ring, tow'red more boldly still!
Then from the moon on high
I'd fetch some drops of the life-giving stream—
A gift that might beseem
Our Lord, the King, to make him live for aye!
 

Anon.

ODE TO THE CUCKOO

 
Nightingales built the nest
Where, as a lonely guest,
First thy young head did rest,
        Cuckoo, so dear!
Strange to the father-bird,
Strange to the mother-bird,
Sounded the note they heard,
        Tender and clear.
Fleeing thy native bow'rs,
Bright with the silv'ry flow'rs,
Oft in the summer hours
        Hither thou fliest;
Light'st on some orange tall,
Scatt'ring the blossoms all,
And, while around they fall,
        Ceaselessly criest.
Through, through the livelong day
Soundeth thy roundelay,
Never its accents may
        Pall on mine ear:—
Come, take a bribe of me!
Ne'er to far regions flee;
Dwell on mine orange-tree,
        Cuckoo, so dear!
 

Anon.

THE ASCENT OF MOUNT TSUKÚBA

 
When my lord, who fain would look on
Great Tsukúba, double-crested,
To the highlands of Hitachi
Bent his steps, then I, his servant,
Panting with the heats of summer,
Down my brow the sweat-drops dripping,
Breathlessly toil'd onward, upward,
Tangled roots of timber clutching.
"There, my lord! behold the prospect!"
Cried I, when we scaled the summit.
And the gracious goddess gave us
Smiling welcome, while her consort
Condescended to admit us
Into these, his sacred precincts,
O'er Tsukúba, double-crested,
Where the clouds do have their dwelling.
And the rain forever raineth,
Shedding his divine refulgence,
And revealing to our vision
Ev'ry landmark that in darkness
And in shapeless gloom was shrouded;—
Till for joy our belts we loosen'd,
Casting off constraint, and sported.
Danker now than in the dulcet
Spring-time grew the summer grasses;
Yet to-day our bliss was boundless.
 

Anon.

COUPLET

 
When the great men of old pass'd by this way,
Could e'en their pleasures vie with ours to-day?
 

Anon.

SHORT STANZAS

I

 
Spring, spring has come, while yet the landscape bears
        Its fleecy burden of unmelted snow!
        Now may the zephyr gently 'gin to blow,
To melt the nightingale's sweet frozen tears.
 

Anon.

II

 
Amid the branches of the silv'ry bowers
        The nightingale doth sing: perchance he knows
        That spring hath come, and takes the later snows
For the white petals of the plum's sweet flowers.¹⁵²
 

Sosei.

III

 
Too lightly woven must the garments be—
        Garments of mist—that clothe the coming spring:—
        In wild disorder see them fluttering
Soon as the zephyr breathes adown the lea.
 

Yukihara.

IV

 
Heedless that now the mists of spring do rise,
        Why fly the wild geese northward?—Can it be
Their native home is fairer to their eyes,
        Though no sweet flowers blossom on its lea?
 

Ise.

V

 
If earth but ceased to offer to my sight
        The beauteous cherry-trees when blossoming,
Ah! then indeed, with peaceful, pure delight,
        My heart might revel in the joys of spring!
 

Narihira.

VI

 
Tell me, doth any know the dark recess
        Where dwell the winds that scatter the spring flow'rs?
        Hide it not from me! By the heav'nly pow'rs,
I'll search them out to upbraid their wickedness!
 

Sosei.

VII

 
No man so callous but he heaves a sigh
        When o'er his head the withered cherry-flowers
        Come flutt'ring down.—Who knows? the spring's soft show'rs
May be but tears shed by the sorrowing sky.
 

Kuronushi.

VIII

 
Whom would your cries, with artful calumny,
        Accuse of scatt'ring the pale cherry-flow'rs?
        'Tis your own pinions flitting through these bow'rs
That raise the gust which makes them fall and die!
 

Sosei.

IX

 
In blossoms the wistaria-tree to-day
        Breaks forth, that sweep the wavelets of my lake:—
        When will the mountain cuckoo come and make
The garden vocal with his first sweet lay?
 

Attributed to Hitomaro.

X

 
Oh, lotus leaf! I dreamt that the wide earth
        Held nought more pure than thee—held nought more true:—
        Why, then, when on thee rolls a drop of dew,
Pretend that 'tis a gem of priceless worth?¹⁵³
 

Heñzeu.

XI

 
Can I be dreaming? 'Twas but yesterday
        We planted out each tender shoot again;¹⁵⁴
        And now the autumn breeze sighs o'er the plain,
Where fields of yellow rice confess its sway.
 

Anon.

XII

 
A thousand thoughts of tender, vague regret,
        Crowd on my soul, what time I stand and gaze
        On the soft-shining autumn moon; and yet
Not to me only speaks her silv'ry haze.
 

Chisato.

XIII

 
What bark impelled by autumn's fresh'ning gale
        Comes speeding t'ward me?—'Tis the wild geese arriv'n
        Across the fathomless expanse of Heav'n,
And lifting up their voices for a sail!
 

Anon.

XIV

Autumn

 
The silv'ry dewdrops that in autumn light
        Upon the moors, must surely jewels be;
        For there they hang all over hill and lea,
Strung on the threads the spiders weave so tight.
 

Asayasu.

XV

Autumn

 
The trees and herbage, as the year doth wane,
        For gold and russet leave their former hue—
All but the wave-toss'd flow'rets of the main,
        That never yet chill autumn's empire knew.
 

Yasuhide.

XVI

Autumn

 
The dews are all of one pale silv'ry white:—
        Then tell me, if thou canst, oh! tell me why
        These silv'ry dews so marvellously dye
The autumn leaves a myriad colors bright?
 

Toshiyuki.

XVII

Autumn

 
The warp is hoar-frost and the woof is dew—
        Too frail, alas! the warp and woof to be:—
For scarce the woods their damask robes endue,
        When, torn and soiled, they flutter o'er the lea.
 

Sekiwo.

XVIII

Autumn

 
E'en when on earth the thund'ring gods held sway
        Was such a sight beheld?—Calm Tatsta's flood,
        Stain'd, as by Chinese art, with hues of blood,
Rolls o'er Yamáto's peaceful fields away.
 

Narihira.

XIX

Winter

 
When falls the snow, lo! ev'ry herb and tree,
        That in seclusion through the wintry hours
        Long time had been held fast, breaks forth in flow'rs
That ne'er in spring were known upon the lea.
 

Tsurayuki.

XX

Winter

 
When from the skies, that wintry gloom enshrouds,
        The blossoms fall and flutter round my head,
        Methinks the spring e'en now his light must shed
O'er heavenly lands that lie beyond the clouds.
 

Fukayabu.

XXI

Congratulations

 
A thousand years of happy life be thine!
        Live on, my lord, till what are pebbles now,
        By age united, to great rocks shall grow,
Whose venerable sides the moss doth line!
 

Anon.

XXII

Congratulations ¹⁵⁵

 
Of all the days and months that hurry by
        Nor leave a trace, how long the weary tale!
        And yet how few the springs when in the vale
On the dear flow'rets I may feast mine eye!
 

Okikaze.

XXIII

Congratulations

 
If ever mortal in the days of yore
        By Heav'n a thousand years of life was lent,
I wot not; but if never seen before,
        Be thou the man to make the precedent.
 

Sosei.

XXIV

Parting

 
Mine oft-reiterated pray'rs in vain
        The parting guest would stay: Oh, cherry-flow'rs!
        Pour down your petals, that from out these bow'rs
He ne'er may find the homeward path again!
 

Anon.

XXV

Travelling

 
With roseate hues that pierce th' autumnal haze
        The spreading dawn lights up Akashi's shore;
        But the fair ship, alas! is seen no more:—
An island veils it from my loving gaze.
 

Attributed to Hitomaro.

XXVI

Travelling

 
Miyako-bird! if not in vain men give
        Thy pleasing name, my question deign to hear:—
        And has she pass'd away, my darling dear,
Or doth she still for Narihira live?
 

Narihira.

XXVIII

Love

 
The barest ledge of rock, if but a seed
        Alight upon it, lets the pine-tree grow:—
If, then, thy love for me be love indeed,
        We'll come together, dear; it must be so!
 

Anon.

XXIX

Love

 
There is on earth a thing more bootless still
        Than to write figures on a running stream:—
And that thing is (believe me if you will)
        To dream of one who ne'er of you doth dream.
 

Anon.

XXXI

Love

 
Since that first night when, bath'd in hopeless tears,
        I sank asleep, and he I love did seem
        To visit me, I welcome ev'ry dream,
Sure that they come as heav'n-sent messengers.
 

Komachi.

XXXII

Love

 
Methinks my tenderness the grass must be,
        Clothing some mountain desolate and lone;
For though it daily grows luxuriantly,
        To ev'ry mortal eye 'tis still unknown.
 

Yoshiki.

XXXIII

Love

 
Upon the causeway through the land of dreams
        Surely the dews must plentifully light:—
        For when I've wandered up and down all night,
My sleeve's so wet that nought will dry its streams.
 

Tsurayuki.

XXXIV

Love

 
Fast fall the silv'ry dews, albeit not yet
        'Tis autumn weather; for each drop's a tear,
Shed till the pillow of my hand is wet,
        As I wake from dreaming of my dear.
 

Anon.

XXXV

Love

 
I ask'd my soul where springs th' ill-omened seed
        That bears the herb of dull forgetfulness;¹⁵⁶
And answer straightway came:—Th' accursed weed
        Grows in that heart which knows no tenderness.
 

Sosei.

XXXVI

Elegies ¹⁵⁷

 
So frail our life, perchance to-morrow's sun
        May never rise for me. Ah! well-a-day!
        Till comes the twilight of the sad to-day,
I'll mourn for thee, O thou beloved one!
 

Tsurayuki.

XXXVII

Elegies

 
The perfume is the same, the same the hue
        As that which erst my senses did delight:—
But he who planted the fair avenue
        Is here no more, alas! to please my sight!
 

Tsurayuki.

XXXVIII

Elegies

 
One thing, alas! more fleeting have I seen
        Than wither'd leaves driv'n by the autumn gust:—
        Yea, evanescent as the whirling dust
Is man's brief passage o'er this mortal scene!
 

Chisato.

XXXIX

 
Softly the dews upon my forehead light:—
        From off the oars, perchance, as feather'd spray,
        They drop, while some fair skiff bends on her way
Across the Heav'nly Stream¹⁵⁸ on starlit night.
 

Anon.

XL

 
What though the waters of that antique rill
        That flows along the heath, no more are cold;
        Those who remember what it was of old
Go forth to draw them in their buckets still.
 

Anon.

XLI ¹⁵⁹

 
Old Age is not a friend I wish to meet;
        And if some day to see me he should come,
I'd lock the door as he walk'd up the street,
        And cry, "Most honored sir! I'm not at home!"
 

Anon.

XLII ¹⁶⁰

 
Yes, I am old; but yet with doleful stour
        I will not choose to rail 'gainst Fate's decree.
        An' I had not grown old, then ne'er for me
Had dawned the day that brings this golden hour.
 

Toshiyuki.

XLIII ¹⁶¹

 
The roaring torrent scatters far and near
        Its silv'ry drops:—Oh! let me pick them up!
        For when of grief I drain some day the cup,
Each will do service as a bitter tear.
 

Yukihira.

XLIV

Composed on beholding the cascade of Otoha on Mount Hiye

 
Long years, methinks, of sorrow and of care
        Must have pass'd over the old fountain-head
        Of the cascade; for, like a silv'ry thread,
It rolls adown, nor shows one jet-black hair.
 

Tadamine.

XLV

 
If e'en that grot where thou didst seek release
        From worldly strife in lonesome mountain glen
        Should find thee sometimes sorrowful, ah! then
Where mayest thou farther flee to search for peace?
 

Mitsune.

XLVI ¹⁶²

 
So close thy friendly roof, so near the spring,
        That though not yet dull winter hath gone hence,
        The wind that bloweth o'er our parting fence
From thee to me the first gay flow'rs doth bring.
 

Fukayabu.

XLVII

 
If to this frame of mine in spring's first hour,
        When o'er the moor the lightsome mists do curl,
Might but be lent the shape of some fair flower,
        Haply thou 'dst deign to pluck me, cruel girl!
 

Okikaze.

XLVIII

 
"Love me, sweet girl! thy love is all I ask!"
        "Love thee?" she laughing cries; "I love thee not!"
        "Why, then I'll cease to love thee on the spot,
Since loving thee is such a thankless task!"
 

Anon.

XLIX

 
A youth once lov'd me, and his love I spurn'd.
        But see the vengeance of the pow'rs above
        On cold indiff'rence:—now 'tis I that love,
And my fond love, alas! is not returned.
 

Anon.

L

 
Beneath love's heavy weight my falt'ring soul
        Plods, like the packman, o'er life's dusty road.
Oh! that some friendly hand would find a pole
        To ease my shoulders of their grievous load!
 

Anon.