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.151
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?152
Heñzeu.
XI
Can I be dreaming? ’Twas but yesterday
We planted out each tender shoot again;153
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
Congratulations154
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;155
And answer straightway came:—Th’ accursed weed
Grows in that heart which knows no tenderness.
Sosei.
XXXVI
Elegies156
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 Stream157 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.
XLI158
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.
XLII159
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.
XLIII160
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.
XLVI161
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.
Footnotes
151 The plum-tree, cherry-tree, etc., are in Japan cultivated, not for their fruit, but for their blossoms. Together with the wistaria, the lotus, the iris, the lespedeza, and a few others, these take the place which is occupied in the West by the rose, the lily, the violet, etc.
152 The lotus is the Buddhist emblem of purity, and the lotus growing out of the bud is a frequent metaphor for the heart that remains unsullied by contact with the world.
153 The transplanting of the rice occupies the whole rural population during the month of June, when men and women may all be seen working in the fields, knee-deep in water. The crops are gathered in October.
154 This ode was composed on beholding a screen presented to the Empress by Prince Sadayasu at the festival held in honor of her fiftieth birthday, whereon was painted a man seated beneath the falling cherry blossoms and watching them flutter down.
155 The “Herb of Forgetfulness” answers in the poetical diction of the Japanese to the classical waters Lethe.
156 It is the young poet Ki-no-Tomonori who is mourned in this stanza.
157 The Milky Way.
158 This stanza is remarkable for being (so far as the present writer is aware) the only instance in Japanese literature of that direct impersonation of an abstract idea which is so very strongly marked a characteristic of Western thoughts and modes of expression.
159 Composed on the occasion of a feast at the palace.
160 One of a number of stanzas composed by a party of courtiers who visited the cascade of Nunobiki, near the site of the modern treaty-port of Kobe.
161 This stanza was composed and sent to the owner of the neighboring house on the last day of winter, when the wind had blown some snow across from it into the poet’s dwelling.