Songs of a Cowherd/A Charcoal Scuttle of Old Gourd

by Itō Sachio

Longer Lays

A Charcoal Scuttle of Old Gourd

1901

On the hillside, the autumn leaves are bright;
Across the rice-field, wild geese’s flight;
The hoar-frost is bitingly cold.

Then, lo! the abode of an old man,
Very fond of his tea,
Assumes at once its wintery mien.

By the hearth a scuttle of old gourd
Filled mountain high with charcoal;
A pair of steel tongs with a mulberry handle;

A brush of an eagle’s tail feathers;
And the old man sits the livelong day
By his boiling kettle in a silent room.