Invitation

The chief flower

Of the plum-tree of this isle

Opens to-night....

Come, singing to the moon,

In the third watch.

From the Japanese of a Courtesan of Nagasaki.

The Clocks of Death

In a life where the clocks

Are slow or fast,

It is a pleasant thing

To die together

As we are dying.

From the Japanese of the Wife of Bes-syo Ko-saburo Naga-haru, (sixteenth century).