Page:The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (Noguchi).djvu/74

Priest.

"Dear child of dews and summer's impulse,

Why wanderest thou as a spirit of malice and evil?"

Lady.

"I crave for the longer life of the many other flowers

That have only to grow with the sun and the day:
Oh, shortness of my life that ended before its day began!
How I long to feel the joy of life and the sun that was not mine!"

Priest.

"Poor child, there is no life where is no death:

Death is nothing but the turn or change of note.
The shortest life is the sweetest, as is the shortest song:
How to die well means how to live well.
Life is no quest of longevity and days:
Where are the flowers a hundred years old?
Oh, live in death and Nirvana, live in dissolution and rest,
Make a life out of death and darkness;
Lady or flower, be content, be finished as a song that is sung!"

Lady.

"Happy am I to hear such words, holy father,

Pray, pray for my sad soul that it may return to Hades and rest!"

Priest.

"Namu, amida butsu. . ."

(The lady disappears at once into the Morning-Glory.
The moon rises. The flower withers. The midnight
bell rings.)