And wildly dance and groan:--
Ah! such is life! the child that I caress'd
Far from mine arms hath flown.

SHORT STANZA ON THE SAME OCCASION

So young, so young! he cannot know the way:--
On Hades' porter I'll a bribe bestow,
That on his shoulders the dear infant may
Be safely carried to the realms below.

_Attributed to Okura._

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 144: Died A.D. 671.]

[Footnote 145: Viz., with the departed and deified Mikado.]

[Footnote 146: The Milky Way.]

[Footnote 147: The part played by the mirror in the devotions of the
Japanese is carried back by them to a tale in their mythology which
relates the disappearance into a cavern of the Sun-goddess Amaterasu,
and the manner in which she was enticed forth by being led to believe
that her reflection in a mirror that was shown to her was another
deity more lovely than herself.]

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS

VIEW FROM MOUNT KAGO

_Composed by the Mikado Zhiyomei_

Countless are the mountain-chains
Tow'ring o'er Cipango's plains;
But fairest is Mount Kago's peak,
Whose heav'nward soaring heights I seek,
And gaze on all my realms beneath--
Gaze on the land where vapors wreath
O'er many a cot; gaze on the sea,
Where cry the sea-gulls merrily.
Yes! 'tis a very pleasant land,
Fill'd with joys on either hand,
Sweeter than aught beneath the sky,
Dear islands of the dragon-fly![148]

THE MIKADO'S BOW[149]

When the dawn is shining,
He takes it up and fondles it with pride;
When the day's declining,
He lays it by his pillow's side.
Hark to the twanging of the string!
This is the Bow of our great Lord and King!
Now to the morning chase they ride,
Now to the chase again at eventide:
Hark to the twanging of the string!
This is the Bow of our great Lord and King!

_Hashibito_.

SPRING AND AUTUMN

When winter turns to spring,
Birds that were songless make their songs resound,
Flow'rs that were flow'rless cover all the ground;
Yet 'tis no perfect thing:--
I cannot walk, so tangled is each hill;
So thick the herbs I cannot pluck my fill.
But in the autumn-tide
I cull the scarlet leaves and love them dear,
And let the green leaves stay, with many a tear,
All on the fair hill-side:--
No time so sweet as that. Away! Away!
Autumn's the time I fa