The Pearls of Awabi

In the great Sea-god Susu's realm
The divers brave the awful deep,
There the awabi's gleaming pearls
Pluck from the shadows where they sleep.

Would that a hundred pearls were mine,
Hundreds of gleaming orbs to twine
And send to thee, where thou dost pine
In Royal City desolate!
Where the nights pass in dreary round,
And thou, with tresses all unbound,
The days of parting countest!
Lonely our alcove—still apart
Our sleeves—and thou with weary heart—
The creeping days, thou countest?

Pearls I would send, that thou shouldst find
Solace in twining them to bind
Garlands of orange-blossom white,
Dark leaves with golden fruit alight,
And sweet-flag flowers,
In this fifth moon-month when by day
And night the cuckoo sings his lay.