Page:Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan.djvu/61

 saw the white petals of the Tachibana tree [a kind of orange] near the house covering the ground.

In our garden trees grew as thick as in the dark forest of Ashigara, and in the Gods-absent month its red leaves were more beautiful than those of the surrounding mountains. A visitor said, "On my way thither I passed a place where red leaves were beautiful"; and I improvised:

I still dwelt in the romances from morning to night, and as long as I was awake.

I had another dream: a man said that he was to make a brook in the garden of the Hexagon Tower to entertain the Empress of the First Rank of Honour. I asked the reason, and the man said, "Pray to the Heaven-illuminating honoured Goddess." I did not tell any one about this dream or even think of it again. How shallow I was!

In the Spring I enjoyed the Princess's garden. Cherry-blossoms waited for!—cherry-blossoms Rh