A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

Dragon-flies 93
Aki no hi no
Someta iro nari
Aka-tombo
Dyed he is with the color of autumn days — O the red
dragon-fly I
" Spring," says a Japanese poet, " is the Season
of the Eyes Autumn ;
is the Season of the Ears,"
— meaning that in spring the blossoming of the
trees and the magic of morning haze make de-
light for the eyes, and that in autumn the ears
are charmed by the music of countless insects.
But he goes on to say that this pleasure of
autumn is toned with melancholy. Those plain-
tive voices evoke the memory of vanished years
and of vanished faces, and so to Buddhist
thought recall the doctrine of impermanency*
Spring is the period of promise and of hope
autumn, the time of remembrance and of regret.
And the coming of autumn's special insect, the
soundless dragon-fly, — voiceless in the season
of voices, — only makes weirder the aspects of
change. Everywhere you see a silent play of
fairy lightnings, — flashes of color continually
intercrossing, like a weaving of interminable
!
;