Page:The Dial (Volume 68).djvu/257
CHORUS: O marvel, at the first sound
of the green beads' click,
the head has dropped from the sleeve!
O wonder, at the first sound
of the priest's chanting,
the deadly passion must melt
frozen in her jaw!
The flesh falls in flakes,
resolves into a small mist
flowing on the moss,
evaporating!
Only an old toothless skull remains on the moss!
THE PRIEST: Your words, sir, were true. But cannot I be of more assistance? For there have been strange tales around here recently of strong men shrivelled in a night; and it seems that you might possess knowledge to ppen the mystery.
KIRI: There were three that invited me to their hut in last night's mist; and they planned to suck my blood, but I escaped. Here is the spot, but I do not see the hut.
THE PRIEST: There was no mist last night, but a clear moon. There is nothing here but an old tomb fallen in ruins. O marvel! for the inscription says that two centuries ago were buried here a father, mother, and daughter, all executed . . .
CHORUS: The father loved the daughter;
the father loved the mother,
and they became angry ghosts.
THE PRIEST: Let us say prayers for the peaceful progress of their unfortunate souls. For their passions survived their bodies; they were incarnated as shushin. And now, at last, they have escaped by you surely the torments of this monstrous existence.
CHORUS: Let us pray for those bound to the wheel of anguish,
caught in the nets of heaven, earth, and hell.
May Kwannon lead us to the realms of the Bodai!
May Amida gather us to the west!
May our redemption be wholly perfect
when heaven, with its lotus-throned angels,
and earth, with its very trees and mountains,
and the seven hells of the three great sins
be folded and drawn into endless Nibbana.