_Ama._ And should his tongue be Like that of the other, The priest of the pain-god?
_O-Umè._ No, but as men are, Wanting women: Yet not once so was he! For as children We caught together The June-night fire-flies Out by the shrine of Jiso.
_Ama._ And then he loved you, And ever has loved you, And faithful is he!
_Ama._ Terrible only Because O-Umè Turns from her fathers And from the gods. She sees their soul-ships Sail to the sea-- The lights lit for them,
And yet she offers No cakes of welcome-- None of farewell! No prayer to Buddha, Lotus-loving, And none to Kwannon Who is all mercy. But inward, inward She turns her eyes To see this stranger, Priest of the Christ-god. Outward, outward, Ever she gazes And ever listens, Ever, for him!... Oh false, false one! False to the dead-- False to Sanko!...
_O-Umè_ (_more distressedly_). The words of the old Are like the leaves,
_O-Umè_ (_becoming distraught_). Oh will she hush not!... Will this servant, Whom my mother Dying left me, Waste my heart so?
Sanko I fear, And fears of many Worlds crowd round me-- Many karmas Of pain and passion, Births and rebirths.
_Ama._ And 'tis because This evil priest Stands in the door of your heart.
For, O blind one, By him blinded, Do you not know The people have heard How he has bid you Cast away from you The gods of your house? The blessed Buddha And all the tablets Kept, ancestral? Ai, they have heard And tonight have risen! This night of the dead They have gone forth, With Sanko to lead them-- Gone to tear down The house of the priest! Gone to destroy The image he worships! Gone to----
[_Shrinks from her and then speaks wanly._
Never is there Trust in any? Only faith that fades? This was known-- But kept from me, Kept in silence, Kept for Sanko?... O lord Buddha, Thou, or Christ, Is there peril?----
_O-Umè._ Ill! and ill shall come to you! For do you think So to prevent me From my fate-way? No, I will find it! The Buddha and all The tablets ancestral Will I take down from the wall, And from me cast them Into the river ... They shall float down to the sea.
The gods forsaken Will pardon never! The gods--and the people! You will become Eta, an outcast, From them driven away. O-Umè!
Remember your father Dead, and your mother. They are hovering Round your fingers, Faint, offended! Will you pause not?