OF A TOYOKUNI COLOR PRINT
OF A TOYOKUNI COLOR PRINT
IWas I a Samurai renowned,Two-sworded, fierce, immense of bow?A histrion angular and profound?A priest? a porter?—Child, althoughI have forgotten clean, I knowThat in the shade of Fujisan,What time the cherry orchards blow,I loved you once in old Japan.IIAs here you loiter, flowing-gownedAnd hugely sashed, with pins a-rowYour quaint head as with flamelets crowned.Demure, inviting—even so,When merry maids in MiyakoTo feel the sweet o’ the year began,And green gardens to overflow,I loved you once in old Japan.IIIClear shines the hill; the rice-fields roundTwo cranes are circling; sleepy and slow,A blue canal, the lake’s blue bound,Breaks at the bamboo bridge; and lo!Touched with the sundown’s spirit and low,I see you turn, with flirted fan,Against the plum-tree’s bloomysnow—I loved you once in old Japan!EnvoyDear, ’twas a dozen lives ago;But that I was a lucky manThe Toyokuni here will show,I loved you once in old Japan.William Ernest Henley.
IWas I a Samurai renowned,Two-sworded, fierce, immense of bow?A histrion angular and profound?A priest? a porter?—Child, althoughI have forgotten clean, I knowThat in the shade of Fujisan,What time the cherry orchards blow,I loved you once in old Japan.IIAs here you loiter, flowing-gownedAnd hugely sashed, with pins a-rowYour quaint head as with flamelets crowned.Demure, inviting—even so,When merry maids in MiyakoTo feel the sweet o’ the year began,And green gardens to overflow,I loved you once in old Japan.IIIClear shines the hill; the rice-fields roundTwo cranes are circling; sleepy and slow,A blue canal, the lake’s blue bound,Breaks at the bamboo bridge; and lo!Touched with the sundown’s spirit and low,I see you turn, with flirted fan,Against the plum-tree’s bloomysnow—I loved you once in old Japan!EnvoyDear, ’twas a dozen lives ago;But that I was a lucky manThe Toyokuni here will show,I loved you once in old Japan.William Ernest Henley.
IWas I a Samurai renowned,Two-sworded, fierce, immense of bow?A histrion angular and profound?A priest? a porter?—Child, althoughI have forgotten clean, I knowThat in the shade of Fujisan,What time the cherry orchards blow,I loved you once in old Japan.IIAs here you loiter, flowing-gownedAnd hugely sashed, with pins a-rowYour quaint head as with flamelets crowned.Demure, inviting—even so,When merry maids in MiyakoTo feel the sweet o’ the year began,And green gardens to overflow,I loved you once in old Japan.IIIClear shines the hill; the rice-fields roundTwo cranes are circling; sleepy and slow,A blue canal, the lake’s blue bound,Breaks at the bamboo bridge; and lo!Touched with the sundown’s spirit and low,I see you turn, with flirted fan,Against the plum-tree’s bloomysnow—I loved you once in old Japan!EnvoyDear, ’twas a dozen lives ago;But that I was a lucky manThe Toyokuni here will show,I loved you once in old Japan.William Ernest Henley.
I
Was I a Samurai renowned,
Two-sworded, fierce, immense of bow?
A histrion angular and profound?
A priest? a porter?—Child, although
I have forgotten clean, I know
That in the shade of Fujisan,
What time the cherry orchards blow,
I loved you once in old Japan.
II
As here you loiter, flowing-gowned
And hugely sashed, with pins a-row
Your quaint head as with flamelets crowned.
Demure, inviting—even so,
When merry maids in Miyako
To feel the sweet o’ the year began,
And green gardens to overflow,
I loved you once in old Japan.
III
Clear shines the hill; the rice-fields round
Two cranes are circling; sleepy and slow,
A blue canal, the lake’s blue bound,
Breaks at the bamboo bridge; and lo!
Touched with the sundown’s spirit and low,
I see you turn, with flirted fan,
Against the plum-tree’s bloomysnow—
I loved you once in old Japan!
Envoy
Dear, ’twas a dozen lives ago;
But that I was a lucky man
The Toyokuni here will show,
I loved you once in old Japan.
William Ernest Henley.