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MUGEN.

                                    (WITHOUT WORDS.)

I gathered the carnations and roses—an April day—
(O, flowers and Spring!)
I trod the road to the nightingale’s nest,
And I met a poet underneath the shade—
(O, Spring and Poet!)
I offered him the flowers, and poetry I begged him to speak:
The flowers he smelled, to the sky sent his golden eyes,
And to me he smiled—
(O smile vaporing around my soul!)
In purple forgetfulness I lost me,—in bliss.
Smile? Nay, Spring! Nay, Universe! Nay, Poetry!
By and by, the poet and I trod with the moon
(O Poet, I and the moon!)
Along the road of the zephyr,
Away, we three.

                                                                        Yone Noguchi.

MLA citation:

Noguchi, Yone. “Mugen (Without Words).” The Green Sheaf, No. 12, 1904, p. 4. Green Sheaf Digital Edition, edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Yellow Nineties 2.0, Toronto Metropolitan University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2022. https://1890s.ca/GSV12-noguchi-mugen/