"Ice-flakes are failing fast
Through the chilly air, and now
Yonder trees with snow bloom laden
Do assume the wild plum's guise.
With their mass of snowy flowers
Gladdening winter's dreary time."
''Amid the branches of sil'vry bowers
The nightingale doth sing; perchance he knows
That spring has come, and takes the later snows
For the white petals of the plum's sweet flowers."
(From Chamberlain's Classical Poetry of the Japanese.)
"The flowers of the plum-trees
All through the day make snow-light.
Moonlight through the night.
Like the icy spray which the breeze
Scatters from the stream,
Like the snow-flake's flight,
Falling petals seem."
From The Japanese Floral Calendar
The Japanese Floral Calendar
By Ernest Wilson Clement
Published by The Open court publishing company, 190457 pages