Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/57

Rh Its burning fire is quenched by the snow; The snow that falls is melted by the fire. No words may tell of it, no name know I that is fit for it, But a wondrous deity it surely is! That lake we call the Sea of Se Is contained within it; That river which men, as they cross it, call the Fuji Is the water which flows down from it; Of Yamato, the Land of Sunrise, It is the peace-giver, it is the god, it is the treasure. On the peak of Fuji, in the land of Suruga, I never weary of gazing."

The following is exceptional, as giving a glimpse of the condition of the poorer classes. It contains lines in which Buddhist influence is traceable.


 * 'Tis night: mingled with the storm the rain is falling;
 * Mingled with the rain the snow is falling.
 * So cold am I, I know not what to do.
 * I take up and suck coarse salt [fish?]
 * And sip a brew of saké dregs;
 * I cough, I sneeze and sneeze, I cannot help it.
 * I may stroke my beard, and think proudly to myself,
 * Who is there like me?
 * But so cold am I, I pull over me the hempen coverlet,
 * And huddle upon me all the nuno cloaks I have got.


 * Yet even this chilly night
 * Are there not others still poorer,
 * Whose parents are starving of cold and hunger,
 * Whose wife and children are begging their food with tears?

(The poet fancies himself addressing such a person.)
 * At such a time how do you pass your days?

(Answer.)
 * 'Heaven and earth are wide, but for me they have become narrow;
 * The sun and moon are bright, but for me they yield no radiance.