A JAPANESE 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 butterfly 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.

I Yoichi Tenko, the painter, Dwelt by the purple sea, Painting the peacock islands Under his willow-tree: Also in temples he painted Dragons of old Japan, 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. Swift to learn, beneath his hand Soon he watched his wonderland Growing cloud by magic cloud, Under the silvery willow-tree In the school of Tenko: Kimi watched him, young and proud, Painting by the purple sea, Lying on the golden sand Watched his golden wings expand! (None but Love will understand All she hid from Tenko.) He could paint her tree and flower, Sea and spray and wizard's tower, With one stroke, now hard, now soft, Under the silvery willow-tree In the school of Tenko: He could fling a bird aloft, Splash a dragon in the sea, Crown a princess in her bower, With one stroke of magic power; And she watched him, hour by hour, In the school of Tenko. Yoichi Tenko, wondering, scanned All the work of that young hand, Gazed his kakemonos o'er, Under the silvery willow-tree In the school of Tenko: "I can teach you nothing more, Thought or craft or mystery; Let your golden wings expand, They will shadow half the land, All the world's at your command, Come no more to Tenko." Lying on the golden sand, Kimi watched his wings expand; Wept.—He could not understand Why she wept, said Tenko. III So, in her blue kimono, Pale as the sickle moon Glimmered thro' soft plum-branches Blue in the dusk of June, Stole she, willing and waning, Frightened and unafraid,— "Take me with you, Sawara, Over the sea," she said. Small and sadly beseeching, Under the willow-tree, Glimmered her face like a foam-flake Drifting over the sea: Pale as a drifting blossom, Lifted her face to his eyes: Slowly he gathered and held her Under the drifting skies. Poor little face cast backward, Better to see his own, Earth and heaven went past them Drifting: they two, alone Stood, immortal. He whispered— "Nothing can part us two!" Backward her sad little face went Drifting, and dreamed it true. "Others are happy," she murmured, "Maidens and men I have seen; You are my king, Sawara, O, let me be your queen! If I am all too lowly," Sadly she strove to smile, "Let me follow your footsteps, Your slave for a little while." Surely, he thought, I have painted Nothing so fair as this Moonlit almond blossom Sweet to fold and kiss, Brow that is filled with music, Shell of a faery sea, Eyes like the holy violets Brimmed with dew for me. "Wait for Sawara," he whispered, "Does not his whole heart yearn Now to his moon-bright maiden? Wait, for he will return Rich as the wave on the moon's path Rushing to claim his bride!" So they plighted their promise, And the ebbing sea-wave sighed. IV Moon and flower and butterfly, Earth and heaven went drifting by, Three long years while Kimi dreamed Under the silvery willow-tree In the school of Tenko, Steadfast while the whole world streamed Past her tow'rds Eternity; Steadfast till with one great cry, Ringing to the gods on high, Golden wings should blind the sky And bring him back to Tenko. Three long years and nought to say "Sweet, I come the golden way, Riding royally to the school Under the silvery willow-tree Claim my bride of Tenko; Silver bells on a milk-white mule, Rose-red sails on an emerald sea!" ... Kimi sometimes went to pray In the temple nigh the bay, Dreamed all night and gazed all day Over the sea from Tenko. Far away his growing fame Lit the clouds. No message came From the sky, whereon she gazed Under the silvery willow-tree Far away from Tenko! Small white hands in the temple raised Pleaded with the Mystery,— "Stick of incense in the flame, Though my love forget my name, Help him, bless him, all the same, And ... bring him back to Tenko!" Rose-white temple nigh the bay, Hush! for Kimi comes to pray, Dream all night and gaze all day Over the sea from Tenko. V So, when the rich young merchant Showed him his bags of gold, Yoichi Tenko, the painter, Gave him her hand to hold, Said: "You shall wed him, O Kimi." Softly he lied and smiled— "Yea, for Sawara is wedded! Let him not mock you, child." Dumbly she turned and left them, Never a word or cry Broke from her lips' grey petals Under the drifting sky: Down to the spray and the rainbows, Where she had watched him of old Painting the rose-red islands, Painting the sand's wet gold, Down to their dreams of the sunset, Frail as a flower's white ghost, Lonely and lost she wandered Down to the darkening coast; Lost in the drifting midnight, Weeping, desolate, blind. Many went out to seek her: Never a heart could find. Yoichi Tenko, the painter, Plucked from his willow-tree Two big paper lanterns And ran to the brink of the sea; Over his head he held them, Crying, and only heard, Somewhere, out in the darkness, The cry of a wandering bird. VI Peonies, peonies thronged the May When in royal-rich array Came Sawara to the school Under the silvery willow-tree— To the school of Tenko! Silver bells on a milk-white mule, Rose-red sails on an emerald sea! Over the bloom of the cherry spray, Peonies, peonies dimmed the day; And he rode the royal way Back to Yoichi Tenko. Yoichi Tenko, half afraid, Whispered, "Wed some other maid; Kimi left me all alone Under the silvery willow-tree, Left me," whispered Tenko, "Kimi had a heart of stone!"— "Kimi, Kimi? Who is she? Kimi? Ah—the child that played Round the willow-tree. She prayed Often; and, whate'er I said, She believed it, Tenko." He had come to paint anew Those dim isles of rose and blue, For a palace far away, Under the silvery willow-tree— So he said to Tenko; And he painted, day by day, Golden visions of the sea. No, he had not come to woo; Yet, had Kimi proven true, Doubtless he had loved her too, Hardly less than Tenko. Since the thought was in his head, He would make his choice and wed; And a lovely maid he chose Under the silvery willow-tree. "Fairer far," said Tenko. "Kimi had a twisted nose, And a foot too small, for me, And her face was dull as lead!" "Nay, a flower, be it white or red, Is a flower," Sawara said! "So it is," said Tenko. VII Great Sawara, the painter, Sought, on a day of days, One of the peacock islands Out in the sunset haze: Rose-red sails on the water Carried him quickly nigh; There would he paint him a wonder Worthy of Hokusai. Lo, as he leapt o'er the creaming Roses of faery foam, Out of the green-lipped caverns Under the isle's blue dome, White as a drifting snow-flake, White as the moon's white flame, White as a ghost from the darkness, Little O Kimi came. "Long I have waited, Sawara, Here in our sunset isle, Sawara, Sawara, Sawara, Look on me once, and smile; Face I have watched so long for, Hands I have longed to hold, Sawara, Sawara, Sawara, Why is your heart so cold?" Surely, he thought, I have painted Nothing so fair as this Moonlit almond blossom Sweet to fold and kiss.... "Kimi," he said, "I am wedded! Hush, for it could not be!" "Kiss me one kiss," she whispered, "Me also, even me." Small and terribly drifting Backward, her sad white face Lifted up to Sawara Once, in that lonely place, White as a drifting blossom Under his wondering eyes, Slowly he gathered and held her Under the drifting skies. "Others are happy," she whispered, "Maidens and men I have seen: Be happy, be happy, Sawara! The other—shall be—your queen! Kiss me one kiss for parting." Trembling she lifted her head, Then like a broken blossom It fell on his arm. She was dead. VIII Much impressed, Sawara straight (Though the hour was growing late) Made a sketch of Kimi lying By the lonely, sighing sea, Brought it back to Tenko. Tenko looked it over crying (Under the silvery willow-tree). "You have burst the golden gate! You have conquered Time and Fate! Hokusai is not so great! This is Art," said Tenko!

I I remember— a breath, a breath Blown thro' the rosy gates of birth, A morning freshness not of the earth But cool and strange and lovely as death In Paradise, in Paradise, When, all to suffer the old sweet pain Closing his immortal eyes Wonder-wild an angel lies With wings of rainbow-tinctured grain Withering till—ah, wonder-wild, Here on the dawning earth again He wakes, a little child. II I remember— a gleam, a gleam Of sparkling waves and warm blue sky Far away and long ago, Or ever I knew that youth could die; And out of the dawn, the dawn, the dawn, Into the unknown life we sailed As out of sleep into a dream, And, as with elfin cables drawn In dusk of purple over the glowing Wrinkled measureless emerald sea, The light cloud shadows larger far Than the sweet shapes which drew them on, Elfin exquisite shadows flowing Between us and the morning star Chased us all a summer's day, And our sail like a dew-lit blossom shone Till, over a rainbow haze of spray That arched a reef of surf like snow —Far away and long ago— We saw the sky-line rosily engrailed With tufted peaks above a smooth lagoon Which growing, growing, growing as we sailed Curved all around them like a crescent moon; And then we saw the purple-shadowed creeks, The feathery palms, the gleaming golden streaks Of sand, and nearer yet, like jewels of fire Streaming between the boughs, or floating higher Like tiny sunset-clouds in noon-day skies, The birds of Paradise. III The island floated in the air, Its image floated in the sea: Which was the shadow? Both were fair: Like sister souls they seemed to be; And one was dreaming and asleep, And one bent down from Paradise To kiss with radiance in the deep The darkling lips and eyes. And, mingling softly in their dreams, That holy kiss of sea and sky Transfused the shadows and the gleams Of Time and of Eternity: The dusky face looked up and gave To heaven its golden shadowed calm; The face of light fulfilled the wave With blissful wings and fans of palm. Above, the tufted rosy peaks That melted in the warm blue skies, Below, the purple-shadowed creeks That glassed the birds of Paradise— A bridal knot, it hung in heaven; And, all around, the still lagoon From bloom of dawn to blush of even Curved like a crescent moon. And there we wandered evermore Thro' boyhood's everlasting years, Listening the murmur of the shore As one that lifts a shell and hears The murmur of forgotten seas Around some lost Broceliande, The sigh of sweet Eternities That turn the world to fairy-land, That turned our isle to a single pearl Glowing in measureless waves of wine! Above, below, the clouds would curl, Above, below, the stars would shine In sky and sea. We hung in heaven! Time and space were but elfin-sweet Rock-bound pools for the dawn and even To wade with their rosy feet. Our pirate cavern faced the West: We closed its door with screens of palm, While some went out to seek the nest Wherein the Phœnix, breathing balm, Burns and dies to live for ever (How should we dream we lived to die?) And some would fish in the purple river That thro' the hills brought down the sky. And some would dive in the lagoon Like sunbeams, and all round our isle Swim thro' the lovely crescent moon, Glimpsing, for breathless mile on mile, The wild sea-woods that bloomed below, The rainbow fish, the coral cave Where vanishing swift as melting snow A mermaid's arm would wave. Then dashing shoreward thro' the spray On sun-lit sands they cast them down, Or in the white sea-daisies lay With sun-stained bodies rosy-brown, Content to watch the foam-bows flee Across the shelving reefs and bars, With wild eyes gazing out to sea Like happy haunted stars. IV And O, the wild sea-maiden Drifting through the starlit air, With white arms blossom-laden And the sea-scents in her hair: Sometimes we heard her singing The midnight forest through, Or saw a soft hand flinging Blossoms drenched with starry dew Into the dreaming purple cave; And, sometimes, far and far away Beheld across the glooming wave Beyond the dark lagoon, Beyond the silvery foaming bar, The black bright rock whereon she lay Like a honey-coloured star Singing to the breathless moon, Singing in the silent night Till the stars for sheer delight Closed their eyes, and drowsy birds In the midmost forest spray Took their heads from out their wings, Thinking—it is Ariel sings And we must catch the witching words And sing them o'er by day. V And then, there came a breath, a breath Cool and strange and dark as death, A stealing shadow, not of the earth But fresh and wonder-wild as birth. I know not when the hour began That changed the child's heart in the man, Or when the colours began to wane, But all our roseate island lay Stricken, as when an angel dies With wings of rainbow-tinctured grain Withering, and his radiant eyes Closing. Pitiless walls of grey Gathered around us, a growing tomb From which it seemed not death or doom Could roll the stone away. VI Yet—I remember— a gleam, a gleam, (Or ever I dreamed that youth could die!) Of sparkling waves and warm blue sky As out of sleep into a dream, Wonder-wild for the old sweet pain, We sailed into that unknown sea Through the gates of Eternity. Peacefully close your mortal eyes For ye shall wake to it again In Paradise, in Paradise.