Japanese Literature Part 39

j.a.pan 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._

A VERY ANCIENT ODE

Mountains and ocean-waves Around me lie; Forever the mountain-chains Tower to the sky; Fixed is the ocean Immutably:-- Man is a thing of nought, Born but to die!

_Anon._

THE BRIDGE TO HEAVEN[150]

Oh! that that ancient bridge, Hanging 'twixt heaven and earth, were longer still!

Oh! that yon tow'ring mountain-ridge So boldly tow'ring, tow'red more boldly still!

Then from the moon on high I'd fetch some drops of the life-giving stream-- A gift that might beseem Our Lord, the King, to make him live for aye!

_Anon._

ODE TO THE CUCKOO

Nightingales built the nest Where, as a lonely guest, First thy young head did rest, Cuckoo, so dear!

Strange to the father-bird, Strange to the mother-bird, Sounded the note they heard, Tender and clear.

Fleeing thy native bow'rs, Bright with the silv'ry flow'rs, Oft in the summer hours. .h.i.ther thou fliest; Light'st on some orange tall, Scatt'ring the blossoms all, And, while around they fall, Ceaselessly criest.

Through, through the livelong day Soundeth thy roundelay, Never its accents may Pall on mine ear:-- Come, take a bribe of me!

Ne'er to far regions flee; Dwell on mine orange-tree, Cuckoo, so dear!

_Anon._

THE ASCENT OF MOUNT TSUKuBA

When my lord, who fain would look on Great Tsukuba, double-crested, To the highlands of Hitachi Bent his steps, then I, his servant, Panting with the heats of summer, Down my brow the sweat-drops dripping, Breathlessly toil'd onward, upward, Tangled roots of timber clutching.

"There, my lord! behold the prospect!"

Cried I, when we scaled the summit.

And the gracious G.o.ddess gave us Smiling welcome, while her consort Condescended to admit us Into these, his sacred precincts, O'er Tsukuba, double-crested, Where the clouds do have their dwelling.

And the rain forever raineth, Shedding his divine refulgence, And revealing to our vision Ev'ry landmark that in darkness And in shapeless gloom was shrouded;-- Till for joy our belts we loosen'd, Casting off constraint, and sported.

Danker now than in the dulcet Spring-time grew the summer gra.s.ses; Yet to-day our bliss was boundless.

_Anon._

COUPLET

When the great men of old pa.s.s'd by this way, Could e'en their pleasures vie with ours to-day?

_Anon._

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 148: One of the ancient names of j.a.pan, given to the country on account of a supposed resemblance in shape to that insect. The dragon-flies of j.a.pan are various and very beautiful.]

[Footnote 149: The Mikado referred to is Zhiyomei, who died in A.D.

641.]

[Footnote 150: The poet alludes to the so-called Ama-no-Ukihashi, or "floating bridge of heaven"--the bridge by which, according to the j.a.panese mythology, the G.o.ds pa.s.sed up and down in the days of old.]

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.