Matsu no ki ni
Sbimikomu gotoshi
Semi no koe.
Into the wood of the pine-tree
Seems to soak
The voice of the semi.
A very large number of Japanese poems about semi describe the noise of the creatures as an affliction. To fully sympathize with the complaints[1] of the poets, one must have heard certain varieties of Japanese cicadae in full midsummer chorus; but even by readers without experience of the clamor,[2] the following verses will probably be found suggestive:—
Ware hitori
Atsui yō nari
Semi no koe.—Bunsō.
Meseems that only I,—I alone among mortals,—
Ever suffered such heat!—oh, the noise of the semi!
Ushiro kara
Tsukamu yō nari,—
Semi no koe.—Jofū.
Oh, the noise of the semi!—a pain of invisible seizure,—
Clutched in an enemy's grasp,—caught by the hair from behind!
註
