The speaker is alone with the thought of a woman, described with striking intimacy as “a bit of flesh and love,” and that thought changes the night around him. Darkness becomes fragrant, almost touchable. He pictures her at a koto: her rings flash suddenly, and her fingers move over the strings like a wave. The music she makes seems to blend with the night air itself. There is longing in this, but also something ghostly. Her melody is not solid or lasting; it slips away and “dies into the pang of dream.” The mood is hushed, sensual, and faintly mournful, as if the speaker is caught between the pleasure of imagining her nearness and the ache of knowing it is only a dream.
The Night Koto Player — Summary
The thought of her presence (a bit of flesh and love) Makes the dusk of night the dusk of perfume. Sudden as a kiss her rings glow ; Over the dusk strings her fingers flow as a wave.
O the breeze of melody of her heart and that of the night, The ghost musical that dies into the pang of dream !