Yone Noguchi

The Heike Singer (1908)

The griefs of emperors and warriors he sings,
The tears and love of ladies he sings,
With the sorrow and pride of old Japan,
His song, that of Autumn eve sad and twilight-grey,
His song, half a dream, half a pain,
Is to him a prayer to put sorrow away;
Under the shadow of centuries old,
How it totters like the falling ghosts of leaves:
His hope is to lay memory down, be released.

For an overview of Noguchi’s relation to English literature see the Bibliography D15. ‘The Heike Singer’ appeared in The Pilgrimage (D15e4).

For a note about Noguchi’s work that is in print see Spirits of Fuji Mountain.