Life's Dialogue Sōseki Natsume

Life's Dialogue

Sōseki Natsume

FIRST SPIRIT:

Out of hope and despair,

Man twists the rope of life,

As beautiful and fair,

As born of passion and strife.

He twists and twists and twists.

Forever twisting he dies,

Then his eyes are glazed with mists,

Then cold and naked he lies.

SECOND SPIRIT:

The rope of life is not

The rope of sand; 'tis long,

'Tis strong, 'tis knotty, 'tis hot.

Let man cling to it right or wrong,

Let man cling and cling and cling,

Forever clinging go,

Till the funeral bell we ring

To call him away ho ho!

FIRST SPIRIT:

Out of laughter and tears,

Man weaves the web of time.

With motley paints he smears

The simple texture sublime:

Woof of hatred, warp of love,

Tints of heaven and hues of hell,

Venom of snake and meekness of dove,

An angel in an infidel.

SECOND SPIRIT:

Inch by inch the web he weaves,

And inch by inch he sees it grow;

Yet nothing behind him he leaves.

How and why no mortals know.

Unlike Penelope

His labour has an end.

This only he shall see,

As Death comes all to rend.

FIRST SPIRIT:

In sorrow let him weep:

Sweet are the tears of relief,

Sweeter than pearls o' th' deep,

Drop by drop melting grief.

Then light up and laugh in glee,

With breast as white as the snow,

With heart and forehead free

To the wind that listeth to blow.

SECOND SPIRIT:

If blood is boiled with fire,

There is the poison to cool:

If bones are eaten by ire,

There is the dagger to fool.

If 'tis of hope he speaks,

There are the Gospel's teachings:

If it is peace he seeks,

There are the Buddha's preachings.

FIRST SPIRIT:

Go on, then, little creature

Called man, in mind deranged,

(The image of God in feature)

Revenging and revenged,

And loving and beloved,

To be hated and to hate!

Thy hands alas! steel-gloved

Are too weak thy passions to bate.

SECOND SPIRIT:

The world is wide; as wide

The mind thou callest thine own.

Learn over thyself to preside,

Thou art the master alone!

The world itself is in thee,

Not thou in the world dost live.

Then twist and weave and be,

To sleep, to forget and forgive.

August 1, 1901