Volume II Part 16 (1/2)

”He is dead,” we cried, and even amid that gloom The wintry veil was rent! The new-born day Showed us the Angel seated in the tomb And the stone rolled away.

It is the hour! We challenge heaven above Now, to deny our slight ephemeral breath Joy, anguish, and that everlasting love Which triumphs over death.

A j.a.pANESE LOVE-SONG

I

The young moon is white, But the willows are blue: Your small lips are red, But the great clouds are grey: The waves are so many That whisper to you; But my love is only One flight of spray.

II

The bright drops are many, The dark wave is one: The dark wave subsides, And the bright sea remains!

And wherever, O singing Maid, you may run, You are one with the world For all your pains.

III

Though the great skies are dark, And your small feet are white, Though your wide eyes are blue And the closed poppies red, Tho' the kisses are many That colour the night, They are linked like pearls On one golden thread.

IV

Were the grey clouds not made For the red of your mouth; The ages for flight Of the b.u.t.terfly years; The sweet of the peach For the pale lips of drouth, The sunlight of smiles For the shadow of tears?

V

Love, Love is the thread That has pierced them with bliss!

All their hues are but notes In one world-wide tune: Lips, willows, and waves, We are one as we kiss, And your face and the flowers Faint away in the moon.

THE TWO PAINTERS

(A TALE OF OLD j.a.pAN.)

I

Yoichi Tenko, the painter, Dwelt by the purple sea, Painting the peac.o.c.k islands Under his willow-tree: Also in temples he painted Dragons of old j.a.pan, With a child to look at the pictures-- Little O Kimi San.

Kimi, the child of his brother, Bright as the moon in May, White as a lotus lily, Pink as a plum-tree spray, Linking her soft arm round him Sang to his heart for an hour, Kissed him with ripples of laughter And lips of the cherry flower.

Child of the old pearl-fisher Lost in his junk at sea, Kimi was loved of Tenko As his own child might be, Yoichi Tenko the painter, Wrinkled and grey and old, Teacher of many disciples That paid for his dreams with gold.

II

Peonies, peonies crowned the May!

Clad in blue and white array Came Sawara to the school Under the silvery willow-tree, All to learn of Tenko!

Riding on a milk-white mule, Young and poor and proud was he, Lissom as a cherry spray (Peonies, peonies, crowned the day!) And he rode the golden way To the school of Tenko.