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. 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 Kiyosumi'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!

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.)

Husband and waife.

Wife. While other women's husbands ride
Along the road in proud array,

My husband up the rough hillside
On foot must wend his weary way.

The grievous sight with bitter pain
My bosom fills, and many a tear
Steals down my cheek, and I would fain.
Do ought to help my husband dear.

Come take the mirror and the veil,
My mother's parting gifts to me;
In barter they must sure avail
To buy an horse to carry thee!

Husband. An I should purchase me an horse,
Must not my wife still sadly walk?

No, no though stony is our course,
We'll trudge along and sweetly talk.

(ANON.)

The Pearls.*

Oht he my prince, that left my side

O'er the twain Lover Hills + to roam,

• For the reference in this song to the "evening horoscope," see p. 59. + Mount Lover and Mount Lady-love (Se-yama and Imo-yama), in the, province of Yamato. Between them ran the rapid Yoshino-gaha, which has ended by sweeping away the Lover's Mount,-at least so the translator was told by the ferryman at the river in the summer of 1876; and

Saying that in far Kíshiu's tide

He'd hunt for pearls to bring them home,

When will he come? With trembling.hope
I hie me to the busy street

To ask the evening horoscope,

That straightway thus gives answer meet

"The lover dear, my pretty girl,

For whom thou waitest, comes not yet,
Because he's seeking ev'ry pearl

Where out at sea the billows fret.

"He comes not yet, my pretty girl! :
Because among the riplets clear
He's seeking, finding ev'ry pearl;
'Tis that delays thy lover dear.

"Two days at least must come and go,
Sevin days at most will bring him back;

"Twas he himself that told me so:

Then cease fair maid, to cry Alack !"..

(ANON.)

Lines

COMPOSED ON BEHOLDING AN UNACCOMPANIED DAMSEL CROSS-
ING THE GREAT BRIDGE OF KAHAUCHI,

Across the bridge, with scarlet lacquer glowing,
That o'er the Katashiha's stream is laid,

certainly from the boat there was but one mountain to be seen in the direction indicated. Perhaps there was never more than one, save in the brains of the Japanese poets, who are very fond of playing with these romantic names,