Alas! vain pray'rs, that more no more avail!
He languished day by day,
Till e'en his infant speech began to fail,
And life soon ebbed away.
Stagg'ring with grief I strike my sobbing breast,
And wildly dance and groan:—
Ah! such is life! the child that I caress'd
Far from mine arms hath flown.
SHORT STANZA ON THE SAME OCCASION
So young, so young! he cannot know the way:—
On Hades' porter I'll a bribe bestow,
That on his shoulders the dear infant may
Be safely carried to the realms below.
Attributed to Okura.
FOOTNOTES:
[144] Died A.D. 671.
[145] Viz., with the departed and deified Mikado.
[146] The Milky Way.