Читать книгу Net of Fireflies - Harold Stewart - Страница 10
ОглавлениеTHE RECLUSE
In my ten-foot bamboo hut this spring,
There is nothing: there is everything.
—SODÔ
REBIRTH
Ah, for the heart whose winter knew no doubt,
The white plum-blossoms, first to venture out!
—MOKUIN
THE ENTRANCE OF SPRING
The scene is almost set for spring to come:
A hazy moon and blossoms on the plum. . . .
—BASHÔ
UNCONVENTIONAL DEBUT
The little nightingale of buff and brown
Singing its first spring quaver—upside down!
—KEKAKU
ON THE ROAD TO NARA
Because of early spring, this nameless hill
Is knee-deep in the gauze of morning still.
—BASHÔ
THE GESTURE
"Be careful not to break my flowering tree!"
He warned; and broke a branch of plum for me.
—TAIGI
ONE SENSE OF BEAUTY
On white plum-petals that were pure and sweet,
The nightingale now wipes its muddy feet.
—ISSA
MORE THAN FORGIVEN
Plum-blossoms give their fragrance still to him
Whose thoughtless hand has broken off their limb.
—CHIYO
AFTER THE FISHING-BOATS DEPART
The tall white sails emerge above the bay's
Low and level veils of morning haze.
—GAKOKU
THE SPRING SEA
All day, with gently undulating swell,
The spring sea rose and fell, and rose and fell. . . .
—BUSON
SPRING CALM
The Inland Sea at twilight: star by star,
The lamps shine out on islands, near and far. . . .
—SHIKI
A MUSICAL EVENING
The geisha's pose is shadowed on the screen
Beside a willow sapling, fledged with green.
—HÔ-Ô
UNFATHOMED
Without a sound, the white camellia fell
To sound the darkness of the deep stone well.
—BUSON
SPRING DAWN
Up comes the bucket from the well of gloom,
And in it floats—a pink camellia bloom.
—KAKEI
SUDDEN SPRING
With tender impact on the icy air,
The peach-buds burst: their silken petals flare.
—HÔ-Ô
CORRESPONDENCE
Among the peach-tree blossoms—ah, the glow
Of sunrise wakes a cock with scarlet crow!
—KIKAKU
THE MASTER STROKE
A seedling shoulders up some crumbs of ground:
The fields are suddenly green for miles around!
—HÔ-Ô
FIRST PUDDLE
Though spring rain patters on the mud, as yet
The froglets' sallow bellies are not wet.
—BUSON
A SHELTER OF LEAVES
A sparrow, springing on this bamboo-cane,
Chirps at the downward sound of steady rain.
—HÔ-Ô
GARDEN AFTER RAIN
Why, as that single tea-camellia fell,
It spilled bright water from its heavy bell!
—BASHÔ
VIEWPOINT
When I climb the pagoda, five floors high,
There, on that fir-top, sits a butterfly!
—KASO
FROM A HILLSIDE
The rice-fields spread their flooded terracing
Of mirrors: segments in a beetle's wing.
—HÔ-Ô
SPRING SNOWFLAKE
A white-queued egret, balanced on the breeze,
Sails through the dark-green cryptomeria trees.
—RAIZAN
AT NARA
There sat the great bronze Buddha. From his hollow
Nostril suddenly darted out—a swallow!
—ISSA
BOUNDLESS COMPASSION
Oh, weak and skinny frog, though death is near,
Fight on and dont give in: Issa is here!
—ISSA
THE SILENT REBUKE
Angrily I returned; awaiting me
Within my court—the tranquil willow-tree.
—RYÔTA
A FLOWERING BIRD
The pheasant's eyes are gold, hut ringed with red:
Two tea-camellias flowering in his head.
—HÔ-Ô
IN A TEMPLE GARDEN
The old green pond is silent; here the hop
Of a frog plumbs the evening stillness: plop!1
—BASHÔ
THE LIKENESS OF WIND
The flurried willow paints the breeze's rush
Without the need for paper, ink, or brush.
—SARYÛ
THE EXECUTIONERS
A red camellia drops to the garden bed,
Where scurrying rats drag off its severed head.
—SHICHIKU
SENSITIVE
The butterfly, lifted on the spring wind's billow,
Alights elsewhere upon the swaying willow.
—BASHÔ
ONE NOTE OF ZEN
A frog had plucked his slack-stringed samisen:
The pond was quieter at nightfall, then.
—HÔ-Ô
DISCOVERY
Again the cherry-buds are bursting through:
Horses have four legs! Birds have only two!
—ONITSURA
WONDER
I saw afar a vast white cloud—but no!
That was Yoshino's mount of flowering snow.
—TEISHITSU
THE DEVOTEE
My shanks grow thin? As long as they can climb,
Expect me, Yoshino, in blossom time.
—BASHÔ
THE POET
I came to praise the cherry-blossom: "Oh! . . .
Oh! . . That's all, upon Mount Yoshino.
—TEISHITSU
THE DAIMYO
The noble lord gets off his horse. And who
Makes him dismount? The cherry-blossoms do.
—ISSA
THE SAMURAI
No friends today—Oh, let me meet no friends
Until my leave for blossom-viewing ends!
—KYORAI
GOING HOME
White cherry-blossoms in the sunset blaze:
I stand, my breast against my staff, and gaze. . . .
—SÔ-A
SLIGHT INTERRUPTION
Ah, nightingale, with half your song expressed,
I leave for the next world—to hear the rest!
—AN ANONYMOUS PRISONER
CONDEMNED TO DEATH
FROM MY WINDOW AT TWILIGHT
A cloud of flowers. A booming temple-bell.
Ueno's or Asakusa's? Who can tell?
—BASHÔ
ATMOSPHERE
How still it is! The belfry's vibrant boom
Does not so much as stir the cherry-bloom.
—FUHAKU
AT THE FERRY
Through the spring rain a ferryboat is oared,
Paper umbrellas, high and low, aboard.
—SHIKI
THE EIGHT FAMOUS VIEWS OF ÔMI
Mist hid the other seven views. Ah well,
I heard the Mit Temple's evening bell!2
—BASHÔ
ON A JOURNEY
Wearied, and seeking shelter for the night—
Ah, these wistaria flowers refresh the sight!
—BASHÔ
LETTER AND SPIRIT
My ears had found the sermon dull and stale;
But in the woods outside—the nightingale!
—SHIKI
ON THE DEATH OF HIS CHILD
His life: a dream in spring, as brief as sad. . . .
Oh, pity me that I have not gone mad!
—RAIZAN
A STREET IN EDO
Through this shower in spring, at dusk dispersing,
A raincoat and umbrella stroll, conversing. . . .
—BUSON
BEFORE NIGHTFALL
With willows drooping overhead, they light
The lamps upon the palace gates tonight.
—SHIKI
THE SPRING FESTIVAL
What pains I took to hang my lantern on
The branch of cherry-blossom, where it shone!
—SHIKI
ROMANCE
Evening in spring: the fox's phantom played
A young and gallant prince in masquerade,3
—BUSON
BY STARLIGHT
How the racemes of white wistaria sway,
As though the night wind blew the Milky Way!
—HAJIN
THE CATCH
I shook my net where whitebait seemed to thresh:
A shoal of moonbeams slithered through the mesh.
—ÔTÔ
EXCAVATIONS BY NIGHT
At dawn my violets grew aslant: a hole
Was tunnelled underneath them by a mole.
—BONCHÔ
ON A HIGH PASS
Above the mountain's snow-white vapour floats
An airy voice: the skylark's rising notes.
—KYOROKU
NATURALLY
How heart-appealing, on the mountain-pass,
Are wild violets hidden in the grass!
—BASHÔ
AT NISHIGÔ RAPIDS
Has the cascade shaken with rushing sound
These yellow kerria petals toward the ground?
—BASHÔ
TRANSPARENT PRESENCE
A veering school of lancelets was inferred
Only because the water's clearness stirred.
—RAIZAN
VIEW OF KÔRIYAMA
Roof upon roof the white-walled castle towers
Above a plain of rape with golden flowers.
—KYOROKU
RETURN OF THE DISPOSSESSED
The same old village: here where I was born,
Every flower I touch—a hidden thorn.
—ISSA
THE ORPHANS
Oh, ragged sparrow without any mother,
When we are lonely, let's play with each other!
—ISSA (aged 6)
SUNSHOWER
Warm sunshine through a clearing after showers;
And for a while, the scent of hawthorn flowers.
—KYOSHI
STILL UNION
Single butterflies dancing through the air
Until they meet: how motionless a pair!
—BASHÔ
BONDAGE
The caged bird gazes at the butterflies
Beyond the bars with longing—watch its eyes!
—ISSA
LIBERATION
The skylark's song above the meadow-flowers
Would last for longer than the day has hours.
—BASHÔ
IN THE MEADOW
Oh who, untouched by tenderness, can pass
Small white daisies scattered in the grass?
—HÔ-Ô
FAIR WARNING
Young sparrows, ruffled in a dust-bath, fly
Out of the way! My horse is plodding by.
—ISSA
UNDERCURRENT
A cumbersome waggon rumbled down the hill
Under its load: my peonies tremble still.
—BUSON
SOWN WITH GOLD
How far these fields of rape in blossom run:
East to the moonrise, west to the setting sun!
—BUSON
TRANSMIGRATION
Lighting one candle with another's flame
At dusk in spring—the same, yet not the same.
—BUSON
EPITOME OF SPRING
Glimpsed through a crevice in the garden fence,
One white flower is spring s impermanence.
—BUSON
AND SO
And so the spring buds burst, and so I gaze,
And so the blossoms fall, and so my days. . . .
—ONITSURA
BURNT OUT
Onto the ashes where my cottage burned,
The cherry-blossoms scatter, unconcerned.
—HOKUSHI
ONE SPRING DAY
How fragile, how ephemeral in flight
This life—for instance: butterfly, alight!
—SÔIN
DOWN THE AVENUE
The curtain of the daimyo's palanquin
Was lifted. Cherry-petals drifted in.
—MÔGAN
THE DELICATE TOUCH
Violets in retirement near its trail
Are touched in passing by the pheasant's tail.
—SHÛSHIKI
RAPE OF SPRING
The cherry-petals' loosely fluttering swarm
Is put to flight; in dark pursuit—the storm!
—SADAIE
THE MIDDLE WAY
A white swan swimming to the shore beyond
Parts with his breast the cherry-pet ailed pond.
—RÔKA
ILLUSION
The fallen blossoms which I saw arise,
Returning toward the bough, were butterflies.
—MORITAKE
A RAIN-SPOILT SPRING
The end of spring has turned the scattered bloom
To torn waste paper for the bamboo broom.
—BUSON