The Passing of Summer — Summary

Yone Noguchi’s lines read like a small elegy for the end of summer. The opening image—an empty cup from which “the light of passion is drunk”—suggests warmth and intensity already spent, leaving only absence. What follows is a world turning cold: a “sad rumour” moves through the trees, a chill wind travels on the stream, and even the waves “shiver in pain.” The final question, asking where the cicada’s long, hot song has gone, sharpens that sense of loss. The speaker feels the change almost physically, as if the landscape itself misses the heat. The mood is quiet and wistful, suspended between what summer meant and the colder stillness now arriving. Autumn is never named, but its coolness fills every image.