Page:Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan.djvu/213

Of Old Japan

more and more infrequent. In the continuous rains the lady gazed at the clouds and thought how the court would be talking about them. She had had many friends; now there was only the Prince. Though people invented various tales about her, she thought the truth could never be known to any. The Prince wrote a letter about the tedious rain:

You are thinking only of the long rains
Forever falling everywhere.
Into my heart also the rain falls—
Long melancholy days.

It was smile-giving to see that he seized upon every occasion to write her a poem, and she also felt as he did that this was a time for sentiment.

The reply:

Unaware of the sadness in your heart,
Knowing only of the rain in mine.

And on another paper she wrote another poem:

It passes, the very sorrowful life of the world—

By to-day's long

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rains meditation it can be known

The

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high-water mark flood will be exceeded

Is it still long? [before you come].

The Prince read this letter and the messenger came back with his answer:

Helpless man,
I am weary even of life.
Not to you alone beneath the sky
Is rain and dulness.

For us both it is a stupid world.