[Song]
Behind me rise the mountains I have passed
Faint in the distance as the clouds and mists.
Behind me rise the mountains I have passed
Faint in the distance as the clouds and mists.
O’er many a mountain path my way has lain,
Wide province after province have I crossed.
Before me now lies the great Sumida,
The river of renown, and at my feet
The waiting ferry do I now behold,
The waiting ferry do I now behold.
[Words]
I have hurried, for already, ’tis the ferry of the river,
And behold, the boat is leaving, I must enter it at once.
What ho! Boatman! stay a moment. I would travel in your boat.
FERRYMAN [Words]
Very good, sir! Now at once though, may it please you to get in.
Yet I first would like to ask you, what is that loud noise behind you,
There behind, whence you have travelled. What’s the matter, may I ask?
TRAVELLER [Words]
’Tis a woman who is coming from the capital and acting
Like a mad thing in a queer ecstatic way. I saw her there.
FERRYMAN [Words]