Naite iru
Ki yori mo futoshi
Semi no koe.
The voice of the semi is bigger [_thicker_] than the tree on
which it sings.
Sugi takashi
Saredomo semi no
Amaru koe!
High though the cedar be, the voice of the semi is incomparably
higher!
Koe nagaki
Semi wa mijikaki
Inochi kana!
How long, alas! the voice and how short the life of the semi!
Some poets celebrate the negative form of pleasure following upon the
cessation of the sound:--
Semi ni dete,
Hotaru ni modoru,--
Suzumi kana!
--YAYU.
When the semi cease their noise, and the fireflies come
out--oh! how refreshing the hour!
Semi no tatsu,
Ato suzushisa yo!
Matsu no koe.
--BAIJAKU.
When the semi cease their storm, oh, how refreshing the
stillness!
Gratefully then resounds the musical speech of the pines.
[Here I may mention, by the way, that there is a little Japanese song
about the _matsu no koe_, in which the onomatope "zazanza" very well
represents the deep humming of the wind in the pine-needles:--
Zazanza!
Hama-matsu no oto wa,--
Zazanza,
Zazanza!
Zazanza!
The sound of the pines of the shore,--
Zazanza!
Zazanza!]
There are poets, however, who declare that the feeling produced by the
noise of semi depends altogether upon the nervous condition of the
listener:--
Mori no semi
Suzushiki koe ya,
Atsuki koe.
--OTSUSHU.
Sometimes sultry the sound; sometimes, again, refreshing:
The chant of the forest-semi accords with the hearer's mood.
Suzushisa mo
Atsusa mo semi no
Tokoro kana!
--FUHAKU.
Sometimes we think it cool,--the resting-place of the
semi;--sometimes we think it hot (it is all a matter of fancy).
Suzushii to
Omoeba, suzushi
Semi no koe.
--GINKO.
If we think it is cool, then the voice of the semi is cool
(that is, the fancy changes the feeling).
In view of the many complaints of Japanese poets about the noisiness of
semi, the reader may be surprised to learn that out of semi-skins there
used to be made in both China and Japan--perhaps upon homoeopathic
principles--a medicine for the cure of ear-ache!
* * * * *