Page:The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (Noguchi).djvu/51

This page has been validated.
BUSON AND BROWNING
47
("The lump of clayHe beats with a stick,–He, the master of the plum-orchard.")

There might be many people, I believe, who will wonder where in the world poetry will come in from a piece of clay beaten by a stick. But be patient, my friends. This is quite an excellent Hokku poem; here we have a scene of some old retired master of a plum-orchard now in a stroll ("And day's at the morn; morning's at seven," perhaps as in Robert Browning's song in Pippa Passes), who beats a lump of clay playfully while walking lazily. And go again to the lines of great Browning:

"God's in His Heaven–All's right with the world."

Do you still call the above Hokku nonsense? Take one more poem by Buson in the following:

"Suzushisa yaKanewo hanaruruKaneno koye."
("Oh, how cool–The sound of the bellThat leaves the bell itself.")

Some little amplification would perhaps help in understanding the beauty of the above poem; but if your sensitive ears can differentiate the sounds of a bell in the daytime and during the

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.