XII.

The Master-Singers of Japan, by Clara A. Walsh, [1914], at sacred-texts.com

p. 70

TRANSCIENCE

By Komachi

Swift fade the hues of hill and wold,
Glories of Spring and Fall depart,
More evanescent still, behold
The fading blossoms of the heart!

OLD SAMURAI PRAYER

May the Springs purely flow
  And sickness cease;
May victory crown our House
And treasure-stores increase;
Evil no longer grow,
And all the world know peace!

ANCIENT WEDDING SONG

The waves are still on the four seas,
Soft blow the time-winds, yet the trees
Sway not, nor rustling foliage stirs.
In such an age blest are the firs
That meet and age together.
Nor heavenward look and reverent gaze,
Nor words of gratitude and praise
Our thanks can tell, that all our days
Pass in this age with blessings stored
By bounty of our Sovereign Lord!

p. 71

AT SAKUSA

(Verse on the Gate of Miya-Yaegaki)

On the wild hills that tower to the sky,
     There where they fell,
The dead leaves lie
In rustling heaps piled high,
   There the gods dwell!

THE HILL OF MEETING

(AU-SAKA, LAKE BIWA)

By Semi-Maro

Known and Unknown, the stranger guest,
Returning friends whom comrades greet,
Up to the Hill of Meeting's ^* crest,
Press the wayfarers' eager feet.
For here the fateful Barrier stands,
And some will part—and some will meet.

SLUMBER SONG OF IZUMO

Sleep, baby, sleep!
On mountains steep p. 72
The children of the hare are straying.
Why are their soft brown ears so long and slender,
Peeping above the rocks where they are playing?

Because their mother, ere they yet were born,
Ate the Loquat leaves in the dewy morn,
And the bamboo grass long and slender—
That's why the ears of baby-hares are long!
Sleep, baby, sleep! to the lilt of my song!

Footnotes

71:* The allusion is to the Octroi or Barriers formerly existing on the boundaries of the different provinces.