Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/269

Rh :::And knew we owed no love to those who to this life
 * Engendered us.
 * We recognized no parents.
 * No children cared for us.
 * We walked a thousand miles and the way seemed short.
 * In the fields we lay down
 * And slept the night in the hills
 * Which now became our proper dwelling place
 * Our proper home.

“Like a root-cut reed
 * Should the tide entice
 * I would come
 * I would come I know but no wave asks
 * No stream invites this grief.”
 * How sad that once I was proud
 * Long ago
 * Proud and graceful
 * Golden birds in my raven hair
 * When I walked like willows nodding, charming
 * As the breeze in spring.
 * The voice of the nightingale
 * The petals of the wood rose, wide stretched,
 * Holding dew
 * At the hour before their breathless fall:
 * I was lovelier than these.
 * Now
 * I am foul in the eyes of the humblest creatures
 * To whom my shame is shown.
 * Unwelcome months and days pile over me
 * The wreck of a hundred years
 * In the city to avoid the eyes of men
 * Lest they should say “Can it be she?”
 * In the evening
 * West with the moon I steal past the palace,
 * Past the towers
 * Where no guard will question in the mountains