Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/301
Chorus: I beat the drum. The days pass and the hours.
It was yesterday, and it is today.
Gardener: But she for whom I wait
Chorus: Comes not even in dream. At dawn and dusk
Gardener: No drum sounds.
Chorus: She has not come. Is it not sung that those
Whom love has joined
Not even the God of Thunder can divide?
Of lovers, I alone
Am guideless, comfortless.
Then weary of himself and calling her to witness of his woe,
“Why should I endure,” he cried,
“Such life as this?” and in the waters of the pond
He cast himself and died.
- (Gardener leaves the stage.)
- Enter the Princess.
Courtier: I would speak with you, madam.
The drum made no sound, and the aged Gardener in despair has flung himself into the pond by the laurel tree, and died. The soul of such a one may cling to you and do you injury. Go out and look upon him.
Princess (speaking wildly, already possessed by the Gardener’s angry ghost, which speaks through her.)[1]
Listen, people, listen!
In the noise of the beating waves
I hear the rolling of a drum.
Oh, joyful sound, oh joyful!
The music of a drum.
Courtier: Strange, strange!
This lady speaks as one
By phantasy possessed.
What is amiss, what ails her.?
Princess: Truly, by phantasy I am possessed.
Can a damask drum give sound?
- ↑ Compare the “possession” in “Sotoba Komachi.”