Japanese Lyrics

Having fully immersed himself in Japanese life, with which he was thoroughly smitten, Westerner Lafcadio Hearn came to occupy a unique position from which he could offer the English-speaking world a personal glimpse beyond the silk curtain and into the heart of the Far East. Known as a superlative purveyor of the Japanese aesthetic sense, Hearn, a sensitive and sincere wordsmith, captures the simple delicacy and earthy realism of Japanese poetry, both contemporary and ancient. The verses collected here traverse the familiar terrain of spirituality, love, and longing, but also venture off the beaten path into the whimsy of lullabies, and as far afield as the alluring realm of "Goblin Poetry."

Bohemian and writer PATRICK LAFCADIO HEARN (1850-1904) was born in Greece, raised in Ireland, and worked as newspaper reporter in the United States before decamping to Japan. He also wrote In Ghostly Japan (1899), and Kwaidan (1904).