Kazé wa mina
Sémi ni suwarété,
Hito-ki kana!
—Chōsui.
Alas! poor solitary tree!—pitiful now your lot,—every breath of air having been sucked up by the sémi!
Sometimes the noise of the sémi is described as a moving force:—
Sémi no koë
Ki-gi ni ugoité,
Kazé mo nashi!
—Sōyō.
Every tree in the wood quivers with clamor of sémi:
Motion only of noise—never a breath of wind!
Také ni kité,
Yuki yori omoshi
Sémi no koë.
—Tōgetsu.
More heavy than winter-snow the voices of perching sémi:
See how the bamboos bend under the weight of their song![31]
[31] ] Japanese artists have found many a charming inspiration in the spectacle of bamboos bending under the weight of snow clinging to their tops.
Morogoë ni
Yama ya ugokasu,
Ki-gi no sémi.
All shrilling together, the multitudinous sémi
Make, with their ceaseless clamor, even the mountain move.