Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/273

Rh  Broken hat Can scarcely hide her face. Think of the frost and the snow and the rain.
 * I’ve not even sleeves enough to dry my tears.
 * But I wander begging things from men
 * That come and go along the road.
 * When begging fails
 * An awful madness seizes me
 * And my voice is no longer the same….
 * Hey! Give me something, you priests!

What do you want? To go to Komachi! What are you saying? You are Komachi! No. Komachi was beautiful.
 * Many letters came, many messages
 * Thick as rain from a summer sky
 * But she made no answer, even once,
 * Even an empty word.
 * Age is her retribution now.
 * Oh, I love her!
 * I love her!

You love her! What spirit has possessed you to make you say such things?

Many loved her
 * But among them all
 * It was Shosho who loved her deepest
 * Shii no Shosho, the Captain.

The wheel turns back.
 * I live again a cycle of unhappiness
 * Riding with the wheels
 * That came and went again each night.
 * The sun.
 * What time is it now?
 * Dusk.
 * The moon will be my friend on the road
 * And though the watchmen stand at the pass
 * They shall not bar my way.