Japanese Songs

Ah, how the blue-eyed
Bird is singing so sweetly
In love's harsh torments.
Hush then, little bird,
O hush,Lest I too torture myself.
----------
My dear one, recall,
How it blew with warm spring-time
And cherries blossomed.
When I set a branch swaying,
White blossom poured down on us.
----------
Fragile wondrously,
Scintillating, yellow-hued,
Tinged with azure,
The lovely leaves of autumn
Covered the pathways with silk.
-----------
And all vanished,
And not one trace left even,
Like to grey ashes,
From a fire-blackened ruin,
Strewn far and wide by the storm.

Maxim Bahdanovich 1915