Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.

Japan: Amakagu, the Mountain

Amakagu

By From the Japanese

Anonymous translation

PIERCING the lofty sky,

Yonder Amakagu soars;

From whose brow the mists are lifting,

In the fulness of the spring;

Rustling mid the pines the wind

Ruffles yonder pool’s smooth bosom,

And of every grove and thicket

Are the dark-massed shadows flecked

By the mountain-cherry’s bloom;

While along the strand are heard

Shrilly cries of circling gulls,

Mingling with the whirring din

Of a flight of early wild-duck;

And there cometh o’er the waters,

In a rudderless frail bark,

Onwards drifting oarless urged,

In uncheered solitude,

Our Emperor’s mighty heir.