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.