g pines.

The wind tosses hers
In circles
That recoil upon themselves:
How should I love--as the swaying or tossing wind?

_Kurenai-ye or "Red Picture"_

She glances expectantly
Through the pine avenue,
To the cherry-tree summit
Where her lover will appear.

Faint rose anticipation colours her,
And sunset;
She is a cherry-tree that has taken long to bloom.

_A Woman Standing by a Gate with an Umbrella_

Late summer changes to autumn:
Chrysanthemums are scattered
Behind the palings.

Gold and vermilion
The afternoon.

I wait here dreaming of vermilion sunsets:
In my heart is a half fear of the chill autumn rain.

_Scene from a Drama_

The daimyo and the courtesan
Compliment each other.

He invites her to walk out through the maples,
She half refuses, hiding fear in her heart.

Far in the shadow
The daimyo's attendant waits,
Nervously fingering his sword.

_A Woman in Winter Costume_

She is like the great rains
That fall over the earth in winter-time.

Wave on wave her heavy robes collapse
In green torrents
Lashed with slaty foam.

Downward the sun strikes amid them
And enkindles a lone flower;
A violet iris standing yet in seething pools of grey.

_A Pedlar_

Gaily he offers
Packets of merchandise.

He is a harlequin of illusions,
His nimble features
Skip into smiles, like rainbows,
Cheating the villagers.

But in his heart all the while is another knowledge,
The sorrow of the bleakness of the long wet winter night.

_Kiyonobu and Kiyomasu Contrasted_

One life is a long summer;
Tall hollyhocks stand proud upon its paths;
Little yellow waves of sunlight,
Bring scarlet butterflies.

Another life is a brief autumn,
Fierce storm-rack scrawled with lightning
Passed over it
Leaving the naked bleeding earth,
Stabbed with the swords of the rain.

_An Actor_

He plots for he is angry,
He sneers for he is bold.

He clinches his fist
Like a twisted snake;
Coiling itself, preparing to raise its head,
Above the long grasses of the plain.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

_Part II_

_Memory and Forgetting_

I have forgotten how many times he kissed me,
But I cannot forget