Is not this island named
The Realm of Fiends, where I,
Damned but not dead walk the Black Road of Death?
Yet shall the foulest fiend of Hell
Now weep for me whose wrong
Must needs move heaven and earth,
Wake angels’ pity, rend
The hearts of men, turn even the hungry cries
Of the wild beasts and birds that haunt these rocks
To tender lamentation.
(He buries his face in his hands; then after a while begins reading the scroll again.)
CHORUS.
He took the scroll that he had read before.
He opened it and looked.
His eyes, like a shuttle, travelled
To and fro, to and fro.
Yet, though he looked and looked,
No other names he saw
But Yasuyori’s name and Naritsune’s name
Then thinking “There is a codicil, perhaps,”
Again he opens the scroll and looks.
Nowhere is the word Sōzu,[205] nowhere the word Shunkwan.
(The ENVOY then calls upon NARITSUNE and YASUYORI to board the boat. SHUNKWAN clutches at YASUYORI’S sleeve and tries to follow him on board. The ENVOY pushes him back, calling to him to keep clear of the boat.)
SHUNKWAN.
Wretch, have you not heard the saying:
“Be law, but not her servants, pitiless.”
Bring me at least to the mainland. Have so much charity!
ENVOY.
But the sailor[206] knew no pity;
He took his oar and struck ...
SHUNKWAN (retreating a step).