Shadowings Part 6

"In the sultry period, feeling oppressed by the greatness of the heat, I made this verse:--

"Semi atsus.h.i.+ Matsu kirabaya to Omou-made.

[The chirruping of the semi aggravates the heat until I wish to cut down the pine-tree on which it sings.]

"But the days pa.s.sed quickly; and later, when I heard the crying of the semi grow fainter and fainter in the time of the autumn winds, I began to feel compa.s.sion for them, and I made this second verse:--

"s.h.i.+ni-nokore Hitotsu bakari wa Aki no semi."

[Now there survives But a single one Of the semi of autumn!]

Lovers of Pierre Loti (the world's greatest prose-writer) may remember in _Madame Chrysantheme_ a delightful pa.s.sage about a j.a.panese house,--describing the old dry woodwork as impregnated with sonority by the shrilling crickets of a hundred summers.[30] There is a j.a.panese poem containing a fancy not altogether dissimilar:--

Matsu no ki ni s.h.i.+mikomu gotos.h.i.+ Semi no koe.

Into the wood of the pine-tree Seems to soak The voice of the semi.

[30] Speaking of his own attempt to make a drawing of the interior, he observes: "Il manque a ce logis dessine son air frele et sa sonorite de violon sec. Dans les traits de crayon qui representent les boiseries, il n'y a pas la precision minutieuse avec laquelle elles sont ouvragees, ni leur antiquite extreme, ni leur proprete parfaite, _ni les vibrations de cigales qu' elles semblent avoir emmagasinees pendant des centaines d'etes dans leurs fibres dessechees_."

A very large number of j.a.panese poems about semi describe the noise of the creatures as an affliction. To fully sympathize with the complaints of the poets, one must have heard certain varieties of j.a.panese cicadae in full midsummer chorus; but even by readers without experience of the clamor, the following verses will probably be found suggestive:--

Ware hitori Atsui yo nari,-- Semi no koe!

--BUNSo.

Meseems that only I,--I alone among mortals,-- Ever suffered such heat!--oh, the noise of the semi!

Us.h.i.+ro kara Tsukamu yo nari,-- Semi no koe.

--JOFu.

Oh, the noise of the semi!--a pain of invisible seizure,-- Clutched in an enemy's grasp,--caught by the hair from behind!

Yama no Kami no Mimi no yamai ka?-- Semi no koe!

--TEIKOKU.

What ails the divinity's ears?--how can the G.o.d of the Mountain Suffer such noise to exist?--oh, the tumult of semi!

Soko no nai Atsusa ya k.u.mo ni Semi no koe!

--SAREN.

Fathomless deepens the heat: the ceaseless shrilling of semi Mounts, like a hissing of fire, up to the motionless clouds.

Mizu karete, Semi wo fudan-no Taki no koe.

--GEN-U.

Water never a drop: the chorus of semi, incessant, Mocks the tumultuous hiss,--the rush and foaming of rapids.

Kagerois.h.i.+ k.u.mo mata satte, Semi no koe.

--KITo.

Gone, the shadowing clouds!--again the shrilling of semi Rises and slowly swells,--ever increasing the heat!

Daita ki wa, Ha mo ugokasazu,-- Semi no koe!

--KAFu.

Somewhere fast to the bark he clung; but I cannot see him: He stirs not even a leaf--oh! the noise of that semi!

Tonari kara Kono ki nik.u.mu ya!

Semi no koe.

--GYUKAKU.

All because of the Semi that sit and shrill on its branches-- Oh! how this tree of mine is hated now by my neighbor!

This reminds one of Yayu. We find another poet compa.s.sionating a tree frequented by semi:--

Kaze wa mina Semi ni suwarete, Hito-ki kana!

--CHoSUI.

Alas! poor solitary tree!--pitiful now your lot,--every breath of air having been sucked up by the semi!

Sometimes the noise of the semi is described as a moving force:--

Semi no koe Ki-gi ni ugoite, Kaze mo nas.h.i.+!

--SoYo.

Every tree in the wood quivers with clamor of semi: Motion only of noise--never a breath of wind!

Take ni kite, Yuki yori omos.h.i.+ Semi no koe.

--ToGETSU.

More heavy than winter-snow the voices of perching semi: See how the bamboos bend under the weight of their song![31]

[31] j.a.panese artists have found many a charming inspiration in the spectacle of bamboos bending under the weight of snow clinging to their tops.

Morogoe ni Yama ya ugokasu, Ki-gi no semi.

All shrilling together, the mult.i.tudinous semi Make, with their ceaseless clamor, even the mountain move.

Kusunoki mo Ugoku yo nari, Semi no koe.

--BAIJAKU.

Even the camphor-tree seems to quake with the clamor of semi!

Sometimes the sound is compared to the noise of boiling water:--

Hizakari wa Nietatsu semi no Hayas.h.i.+ kana!

In the hour of heaviest heat, how simmers the forest with semi!

Niete iru Mizu bakari nari-- Semi no koe.