After which mutual confidence the illusion naturally deepens; suffering yields to a joy that cannot disguise itself, and the keys of the heart are thrown away: this is the second stage.

I

The person who said before, "I hate my life since I saw you,"
Now after union prays to live for a thousand years.

II

You and I together--lilies that grow in a valley:
This is our blossoming-time--but nobody knows the fact.

III

Receiving from his hand the cup of the wine of greeting,
Even before I drink, I feel that my face grows red.

[1. In the original this is expressed by an onomatope, pinto, imitating the sound of the fastening of the look of a tansu or chest of drawers:--

Pinto kokoro ni
Jomai oroshi:
Kagi wa tagai no
Mune ni aru.

]

IV

I cannot hide in my heart the happy knowledge that fills it;
Asking each not to tell, I spread the news all round.[1]

V

All crows alike are black, everywhere under heaven.
The person that others like, why should not I like too?

VI

Going to see the beloved, a thousand ri are as one ri;[2]
Returning without having seen, one ri is a thousand ri.

VII

Going to see the beloved, even the water of rice-fields[3]
Ever becomes, as I drink, nectar of gods I to the taste.

[1. Much simpler in the original:--

Mune ni tsutsumenu
Ureshii koto wa;--
Kuchidome shinagara
Furearuku.

2. One ri is equal to about two and a half English miles.

3. In the original dorota; literally "mud rice-fields," meaning rice-fields during the time of flushing, before the grain has fairly grown up. The whole verse reads:--

Horete kayoyeba,
Dorota no midzu mo
Nomeba, kanro no,
Aji ga suru.

4 Kanro, a Buddhist word, properly written with two Chinese characters signifying "sweet dew." The real meaning is amrita, the drink of the gods.]

VIII

You, till a hundred years; I, until nine and ninety;
Together we still shall be in the time when the hair turns white.

IX

Seeing the face, at once the folly I wanted to utter
All melts out of my thought, and somehow the tears come first![1]

X

Crying for joy made wet my sleeve that dries too quickly;
'Tis not the same with the heart,--that cannot dry so soon!

XI

To Heaven with all my soul I prayed to prevent your going;
Already, to keep you with me, answers the blessed rain.

So passes the period of illusion. The rest is doubt and pain; only the love remains to challenge even death:--

I

Parted from you, my beloved, I go alone to the pine-field;
There is dew of night on the leaves; there is also dew of tears.

[1.

Iitai guchi saye
Kao miriya kiyete
Tokaku namida ga
Saki ni deru.