Page:The witch-maid & other verses (1914).djvu/76

TWO JAPANESE SONGS

What does the bird-seller know of the heart of a bird?
 
"I have given grain for you to eat and water that you may bathe."
Shall not this bird be content? is there need to clip her wings?
No, for her cage is very strong, the golden bars are set close;
Yet the real bird has flown away, very far away over the rice-fields;
There is only the shadow-body in the cage.

What does the bird-seller care for the heart of a bird?

II

A SMOKE SONG

There is a grey plume of smoke on the horizon,
The smoke of a steamer that has departed over the edge of the world.
There is the smoke of a dying fire in my heart,
The smoke has hurt my eyes, they ache with tears.

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