{"collection":"shi","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/shi/msj/msj14.htm","path":"shi/msj/msj14.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/shi/msj/msj14.htm","text":"The Master-Singers of Japan, by Clara A. Walsh, [1914]\nButterfly, butterfly! light upon the Na-leaf, pray!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Or if Na-leaf tempt you not,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On my hand alight and sway:\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hand and Na-leaf both are nigh\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Light upon one, butterfly!\nPut out your horns for a little, snail!\n The rain falls soft, and the wind blows warm,\n And rustles the leaves of the bamboo grass.\n Put out your horns, ere the showers pass,\n For the rain falls soft, and the wind blows warm!\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To West and East\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Land is full of foes!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To North and South\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The foeman's standard blows,\n And countless as the pebbles on the sand,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0From south of Tsukushi,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And Satsuma's wild strand,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Still gather foes!\n\u00a0\u00a0Into the void\n Of pathless space may fall\n \u00a0\u00a0High Heaven itself\u2014\n The solid mountain's wall\n \u00a0\u00a0Melt in the torrents.\n Yet one thing is sure,\n \u00a0\u00a0The Imperial Realm\n Unshaken shall endure\n \u00a0\u00a0Firm above all!\n(From the \"Is\u00e9 Monogatari,\" about 901\u2013922)\nMoon! it is gone, with all its charm sublime;\n Spring I nay, the Spring of \"Once upon a time\"\n Comes nevermore with blossoms in its train;\n All else is changed\u2014but I unchanged remain!\nThe croaking frogs that find their lodging here,\n Would seem to feel the loneness of the night,\n As well as I, so plaintive is their cry!\nBy Arikoto\nA thousand times I gaze upon thy form,\n A thousand times\u2014and each more wonderful!\nSwift, with the drifting clouds, tumultuous storm,\n The driving winds\u2014so dost thou smile or frown\u2014\n Yet always beauteous, whether storm or shine,\n O magic Mountain! Fuji the Divine\nBy Tahira no Kanemori\nThe goddess of the Spring has spread\n \u00a0\u00a0Upon the budding willow-tree\n Her lovely mesh of silken strands:\n \u00a0\u00a0O wind of Spring, blow lovingly\n And gently, lest the willow thread\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Entangled be!\n(From the Kokinshiu\")\nBy Kujohara no Fukayabu\nMidwinter gloom the earth enshrouds,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet from the skies\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The blossoms fall\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A flutt\u2019ring shower,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0White petals all!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Can Spring be come\n So soon beyond the clouds?\n(From the \"Kokinshiu\")\nBy Sakanohe no Korenori\nIn Yoshino at dawn meseemed\n Around me paling moonlight gleamed,\n But \u2019twas new-fallen snow that lay\n Cold-shining in the light of day.\nBy Biwa Sadaijin\nOnce more the garden that I loved I seek,\n Where once the footsteps of my dear ones trod,\n Now all deserted, desolate and bleak.\n The brown leaf flutters to the frosted sod.\n Only the maple-foliage as of old\n Weaves its embroidery of red and gold!\nBy Norinobu\nAll round the year, with careful pride,\n My court-yard here is neatly kept,\n Save at sweet cherry-blossom tide,\n When \u2019tis untrodden and upswept.\n White scented petals softly blow,\n And, downward fluttering, create\n A perfumed carpeting of snow,\n Nor foot nor hand must desecrate.\nBy Harumichi no Tsuraki\nOne speaks of yesterday,\n Lives through to-day, p. 77\n And on the morrow\n Hastening away\n Like Asu's river,\n Ceaselessly and fast,\n The fleeting months and days\n Are with the past.\nBy Fujiwara Kiyomasa\nThe varied grasses of the Autumn meads\n Are gemmed with dewdrops, as with pure white beads,\n Yet all unthreaded. As the grasses sway,\n So, one by one, the dew-pearls slip away\n And vanish from the radiance of the day!\nWhence come these colours of the grass\n That glorify the Autumn field?\n The dew that glistens where I pass\n One hue alone methought could yield,\n Its crystal orbs no dyes can hold,\n Yet the leaves change to red and gold!\nMy humble dwelling, creeper-clad,\n So lonely lies,\n That day by day none visit me\n Save the fire-flies!\nBy Yorihira\nEvanescent as dew their existence,\n These warriors of long-vanished ages;\n Of all their fierce contests and striving,\n Lo! the end is the Autumn wind sighing\n Its dirge o\u2019er the waste place of battle!\nI look upon the harvest moon to-night,\n She lifts my soul upon her silver rays;\n My thoughts are tangled in a web of light\n With vague reflections in a thousand ways.\n Dreaming they wander in a world unknown,\n Though Autumn's witchery is not mine alone!\nThe Autumn wind tightening its plaintive strings,\n Plays a weird nocturne, that sad thought inspires.\n And every gust new desolation brings\n To my lone heart, a thrill of vain desires.\nCall not the frosted branches of the trees,\n This winter morn, all desolate and bare!\n While the snow lies unmelted upon these,\n I think I see the white Spring-blossom there!\nWould that this hail might shower, a sparkling stream,\n All the grey day, until the moon arise,\n And shine upon this court, which then would gleam\n As though a rich-gemmed pavement dazed our eyes\u2014\n White, glittering jewels, fresh from Paradise!","title":"The Master-Singers of Japan: XIII.","type":"page"}