but the majority of these, written in the popular twenty-six-syllable form called dodoitsu, appear to consist of little more than variants of one old classic fancy, comparing the silent burning of the insect’s light to the consuming passion that is never uttered.
Perhaps my readers will be interested by the following selection of firefly poems. Some of the compositions are many centuries old:—
Catching Fireflies
Mayoi go no
Naku-naku tsukamu
Hotaru kana!
Ah! the lost child! Though crying and crying, still he catches fireflies!
Kuraki yori
Kuraki hito yobu
Hotaru kana!
Out of the blackness black people call [to each other] : [they are hunting] fireflies!
Iu koto no
Kikoete ya, takaku
Tobu Hotaru!
Ah! having heard the voices of people [crying "Catch it!"], the firefly now flies higher!
註
