FROM ‘THE DESERTED CRONE’ (OBASUTE)

GHOST. My sleeves move again in dances
Of sweet remembered nights of long ago.
(She continues to dance, her song alternating back and
forth between herself and the Chorus.)

CHORUS. “No solace for my heart at Sarashina
When I see the moon
Shining down on Mount Obasute”
When I see the shimmering moon.

GHOST. No stranger to the moon,
I dally among the flowers
For these moments, brief as dew on mountain grasses…

CHORUS. Fleeting as the dew indeed…
Why should I have come here?
A butterfly at play…

GHOST. Fluttering…
Dancing sleeves…

CHORUS. Over and return, over and…

GHOST. Return, return
Autumn of long ago.

CHORUS. My heart is bound by memories,
Unshakable delusions.
In this piercing autumn wind tonight
I ache with longing for the past,
Hunger after the world I knew-
Bitter world,
Autumn.
Friends.
But even as I speak,
See how the night already pales,
And daylight whitens into morning.
I shall vanish,
The traveler will return.
(The Traveler exits.)

GHOST. Now, alone,
Deserted,
A moss-grown wintry hag.
(She watches the Traveler depart, and weeps.)

CHORUS. Abandoned again as long ago.
And once again all that remains-
Desolate, forsaken crag,
Mountain of the Deserted Crone.
(She spreads her arms and remains immobile at the shite-position)