Omoshiroi zo ya,
Waga-ko no koe wa
Takai mori-ki no
Semi no koe![32]
Sweet to the ear is the voice of one's own child as the voice
of a semi perched on a tall forest tree.
[32] There is another version of this poem:--
Omoshiroi zo ya,
Waga-ko no naku wa
Sembu-segaki no
Kyo yori mo!
"More sweetly sounds the crying of one's own child
than even the chanting of the sutra in the service
for the dead." The Buddhist service alluded to is
held to be particularly beautiful.
But such admiration is rare. More frequently the semi is represented as
crying for its nightly repast of dew:--
Semi wo kike,--
Ichi-nichi naite
Yoru no tsuyu.
--KIKAKU.
Hear the semi shrill! So, from earliest dawning,
All the summer day he cries for the dew of night.
Yu-tsuyu no
Kuchi ni iru made
Naku semi ka?
--BAISHITSU.
Will the semi continue to cry till the night-dew fills its
mouth?
Occasionally the semi is mentioned in love-songs of which the following
is a fair specimen. It belongs to that class of ditties commonly sung by
geisha. Merely as a conceit, I think it pretty, in spite of the
factitious pathos; but to Japanese taste it is decidedly vulgar. The
allusion to beating implies jealousy:--
Nushi ni tatakare,
Washa matsu no semi
Sugaritsuki-tsuki
Naku bakari!
Beaten by my jealous lover,--
Like the semi on the pine-tree
I can only cry and cling!
And indeed the following tiny picture is a truer bit of work, according
to Japanese art-principles (I do not know the author's name):--
Semi hitotsu
Matsu no yu-hi wo
Kakae-keri.
Lo! on the topmost pine, a solitary cicada
Vainly attempts to clasp one last red beam of sun.