In dark cocoon my mother's silkworms dwell;
Like them, a captive, through the livelong day
Alone I sit and sigh my soul away,

For ne'er to any I my love may tell.

Like to the pine-trees I must stand and pine,*
While downward slanting fall the shades of night,
Till my long sleeve of purest snowy white
With showers of tears is steeped in bitter brine.

(ANON.)

Love is All.

WHERE in spring the sweetest flowers
Fill Mount Kaminábi's bowers,
Where in autumn, dyed with red,
Each ancient maple rears its head,
And Aska's flood, with sedges lin❜d,
As a belt the mound doth bind :-
There see my heart,-a reed that sways,
Nor aught but love's swift stream obeys,
And now, if, like the dew, dear maid,
Life must fade, then let it fade:

My secret love is not in vain,

For thou lov'st me back again.‡

(ANON.)

* The play in the original is on the word matsu, which has the double signification of "a pine-tree" and "to wait."

+ Thus pronounced, but properly written Asuka.

Though no formal comparison is expressed, the allusions to the blossoms, to the ruddy tint, and to the girdle, are meant to apply to the poet's mistress as well as to the scenery of Kaminábi. These suggestions, as it were from without, are much sought after by the poets of Japan.

Homeward.

From Kaminábi's crest

The clouds descending pour in sheeted rain, And, 'midst the gloom, the wind sighs o'er the plain :

Oh he that sadly press'd,

Leaving my loving side, alone to roam

Magámi's des'late moor, has he reach'd home?

(ANON.)

The Maiden and her Bog.

As the bold huntsman on some mountain path Waits for the stag he hopes may pass that way, So wait I for my love both night and day: Then bark not at him, as thou fear'st my wrath !

(ANON.)

Secret Love.

If as my spirit yearns for thine

Thine yearns for me, why thus delay ?
And yet, what answer might be mine

If, pausing on her way,

Some gossip bade me tell

Whence the deep sighs that from my bosom swell?

And thy dear name my lips should pass,

My blushes would our loves declare;

No, no! I'll say my longing was
To see the moon appear

O'er yonder darkling hill;

Yet 'tis on thee mine eyes would gaze their

fill!

(ANON.)

He comes not.*

He comes not! 'tis in vain I wait;

The crane's wild cry strikes on mine ear,
The tempest howls, the hour is late,

Dark is the raven night and drear:

And, as I thus stand sighing,

The snowflakes round me flying

Light on my sleeve, and freeze it crisp and clear.

Sure 'tis too late! he cannot come;
Yet trust I still that we may meet,
As sailors gaily rowing home

Trust in their ship so safe and fleet.
Though waking hours conceal him,
Oh! may my dreams reveal him,

Filling the long, long night with converse sweet!

(ANON.)

The Omen.

[The reference in this song is to an old superstition.

It used to

be supposed that the chance words caught from the mouths of passers-by, would solve any doubt or question to which it might

* The translation is here made, not from the standard text, but from a slightly varying one quoted in the "Riyakuge" commentary.

otherwise be impossible to obtain an answer. This was called the yufu-ura, or "evening divination," on account of its being practised in the evening. It has been found impossible in this instance to follow the original very closely.]

Yes! 'twas the hour when all my hopes
Seemed idle as the dews that shake
And tremble in their lotus-cups

By deep Tsurugi's lake,—

'Twas then the omen said:

"Fear not! he'll come his own dear love to wed."

What though my mother bids me flee

Thy fond embrace? No heed I take;

As pure, as deep my love for thee
As Kiyosúmi's lake.

One thought fills all my heart:

When wilt thou come no more again to part?

(ANON.)

Rain and Snow.

For ever on Mikáne's crest,

That soars so far away,

The rain it rains in ceaseless sheets,
The snow it snows all day.

And ceaseless as the rain and snow
That fall from heaven above,
So ceaselessly, since first we met,
I love my darling love.

(ANON.)

Parted by the Stream.

Here on one side of the stream I stand,
And gaze on my love on the other strand.
Oh! not to be with her, what sadness!
Oh! not to be with her, what madness!

If but a red-lacquered skiff were mine,
With paddles strewn over with pearls so fine,
Then would I pass the river,

And dwell with my love for ever!

(ANON.)

He and She.

He. To Hatsúse's vale I'm come,
To woo thee, darling, in thy home
But the rain rains down apace,
And the snow veils ev'ry place,
And now the pheasant 'gins to cry,
And the cock crows to the sky:

Now flees the night, the night hath fled,
Let me in to share thy bed!

She. To Hatsúse's vale thou'rt come,
To woo me, darling, in my home:
But my mother sleeps hard by,
And my father near doth lie;
Should I but rise, I'll wake her ear;

Should I go out, then he will hear:
The night hath fled! it may not be,
For our love's a mystery!

(ANON.)