Of Old Japan
may be awaiting you, cuckoos, yet you sing here carelessly from morning till night!"
One who sat near me said: "Do you think that there is one person, at least, in the Capital who is listening to cuckoos, and thinking of us at this moment?"—and then:
Many in the Royal City like to gaze on the calm moon.
But is there one who thinks of the deep mountain
Or is reminded of us hidden here?
I replied:
In the dead of night, moon-gazing,
The thought of the deep mountain affrighted,
Yet longings for the mountain village
At all other moments filled my heart.
Once, towards dawn, I heard footsteps which seemed to be those of many persons coming down the mountain. I wondered and looked out. It was a herd of deer which came close to our dwelling. They cried out. It was not pleasant to hear them near by.
It is sweet to hear the love-call of a deer to its mate,
In Autumn nights, upon the distant hills.
I heard that an acquaintance had come near my residence and gone back without calling on me. So I wrote:
Even this wandering wind among the pines of the mountain—
I've heard that it departs with murmuring sound.
[That is, you are not like it. You do not speak when going away.]
In the Leaf-Falling month [September] I saw the moon more than twenty days old. It was towards
