II
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Hearn, Lafcadio
The songs really form three distinct groups, each corresponding to a particular period of that emotional experience which is the subject of all. In the first group of seven the surprise and pain and weakness of passion find utterance; beginning with a plaintive cry of reproach and closing with a whisper of trust.
I You, by all others disliked!—oh, why must my heart thus like you? II This pain which I cannot speak of to any one in the world: Tell me who has made it,—whose do you think the fault? III Will it be night forever?—I lose my way in this darkness: Who goes by the path of Love must always go astray! IV Even the brightest lamp, even the light electric, Cannot lighten at all the dusk of the Way of Love. V Always the more I love, the more it is hard to say so: Oh! how happy I were should the loved one say it first! VI Such a little word!—only to say, "I love you"! Why, oh, why do I find it hard to say like this?[1]
VII Clicked-to[2] the locks of our hearts; let the keys remain in our bosoms.
After which mutual confidence the illusion naturally deepens; suffering yields to a joy that cannot disguise itself, and the keys of the heart are thrown away: this is the second stage.
I The person who said before, "I hate my life since I saw you," Now after union prays to live for a thousand years. II You and I together—lilies that grow in a valley: This is our blossoming-time—but nobody knows the fact. III Receiving from his hand the cup of the wine of greeting, Even before I drink, I feel that my face grows red. IV I cannot hide in my heart the happy knowledge that fills it; Asking each not to tell, I spread the news all round.[3]
V All crows alike are black, everywhere under heaven. The person that others like, why should not I like too? VI Going to see the beloved, a thousand ri are as one ri;[4] Returning without having seen, one ri is a thousand ri.
VII Going to see the beloved, even the water of rice-fields[5] Ever becomes, as I drink, nectar of gods[6] to the taste.
VIII You, till a hundred years; I, until nine and ninety; Together we still shall be in the time when the hair turns white. IX Seeing the face, at once the folly I wanted to utter All melts out of my thought, and somehow the tears come first![7]
X Crying for joy made wet my sleeve that dries too quickly; 'T is not the same with the heart,—that cannot dry so soon! XI To Heaven with all my soul I prayed to prevent your going; Already, to keep you with me, answers the blessed rain.
So passes the period of illusion. The rest is doubt and pain; only the love remains to challenge even death:—
I Parted from you, my beloved, I go alone to the pine-field; There is dew of night on the leaves; there is also dew of tears. II Even to see the birds flying freely above me Only deepens my sorrow,—makes me thoughtful the more.
III Coming? or coming not? Far down the river gazing, —Only yomogi shadows[8] astir in the bed of the stream.
IV Letters come by the post; photographs give me the shadow! Only one thing remains which I cannot hope to gain. V If I may not see the face, but only look at the letter, Then it were better far only in dreams to see. VI Though his body were broken to pieces, though his bones on the shore were bleaching, I would find my way to rejoin him, after gathering up the bones.[9]
Source notes
[1] Inimitably simple in the original:—
Horeta wai na to Sukoshi no koto ga: Nazé ni kono yō ni Iinikui?
[2] In the original this is expressed by an onomatope, pinto, imitating the sound of the fastening of the lock of a tansu, or chest of drawers:—
Pinto kokoro ni Jōmai oroshi: Kagi wa tagai no Muné ni aru.
[3] Much simpler in the original:—
Muné ni tsutsumenu Uréshii koto wa;— Kuchidomé shinagara Furéaruku.
[4] One ri is equal to about two and a half English miles.
[5] In the original dorota; literally "mud rice-fields,"— meaning rice-fields during the time of flushing, before the grain has fairly grown up. The whole verse reads:—
Horeté kayoyeba Dorota no midzu mo Noméba kanro no Aji ga suru.
[6]Kanro, a Buddhist word, properly written with two Chinese characters signifying "sweet dew." The real meaning is amrita, the drink of the gods.
[7]
Iitai guchi sayé Kao miriya kiyété Tokakii namida ga Saki ni deru.
The use of tokaku ("somehow," for "some reason or other") gives a peculiar pathos to the utterance.
[8] The plant yomogi (Artemisia vulgaris) grows wild in many of the half-dry beds of the Japanese rivers.
[9]
Mi wa kuda kuda ni Honé we isobé ni Sarasoto mama yo Hiroi atsumété Sôté misho.
The only song of this form in the collection. The use of the verb soi implies union as husband and wife.