{"collection":"shi","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/shi/msj/msj11.htm","path":"shi/msj/msj11.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/shi/msj/msj11.htm","text":"The Master-Singers of Japan, by Clara A. Walsh, [1914]\nBy Minamoto no Jun\u201410th Century\nOut of the murky clouds the lightning's glare\n Dimly reveals the brooding Autumn plain, p. 62\n Shown for an instant in its 'broidery rare,\n Then the dense darkness covers it again.\n Such is our life, an instant in the light,\n Then the Unknown, impenetrable night!\nBy Minamoto no Jun\nEven as the beads of evening dew that lie\n Upon the morning-glory through the night,\n And vanish ere the fading of the flower\n \u00a0\u00a0With the day's dawning\n \u00a0\u00a0Such is human life!\nUNKNOWN\nWould that my sleeve were long and wide enough\n To cover all the sky, and shelter thus\n The fair Spring blossoms from the scattering wind!\nThe tangled crowd of blossoms in the field,\n Their mingled perfumes to the morning yield.\n As I pass on, where fallen petals strew\n The narrow path, with aromatic dew\n My sleeve is wet and faded.\nThe lonely wanderer with dismay\n Sees the dusk fall, as he pursues\n His path towards the wane of day,\n And mists begin to blot the views\n And hide the Adzuma highway,\n Where, clear to sight, a while ago\n The folk were passing to and fro!\nThe white cloud blown from the mountain-peak\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Drifts lightly by;\n Whither it goes we would vainly seek,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And know not why\nThe white cloud feels the breath of the wind,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A shuddering sigh:\n Even thus is the life of a man\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Who is born\u2014to die!\nThe crying of the frogs comes hither,\n Silent no longer, since they fear\n To see the Yamabuki wither,\n The golden blooms they hold so dear,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And now the heartless flowers\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Make haste to disappear!\n(From the \"Many\u00f4shiu\")\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is the Dawn, and I\u2014\n I cannot sleep, nor have the long night through,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For thoughts of her I love!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The cuckoo's weary cry,\n Full of sad yearning, loud and louder grew,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And still though Day draws nigh,\n It maddens me with lamentations new!\nThe pale mauve wavelets of wistaria,\n Which I had planted by my dwelling-place\n That it might bring me thoughts of thee I love,\n At length are blooming: pure ethereal\n As their own fragrance, fugitive and rare.\nBy \u014ctomo no Yakamochi\nWhy talk of jewels? Though by night\n Their hearts with changeful colours shine,\n Can they impart the deep delight\n That lives within the golden wine\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And drives away one's care?\n\u00a0\u00a0If in this Lifetime\n My heart be light and joyous,\n \u00a0\u00a0What does it matter\n Though in the next existence\n I change to bird or insect?","title":"The Master-Singers of Japan: VIII.","type":"page"}