Poem from 1895

[tokashikibob]

1895.] A Japanese Sword-Song. 795
A Japanese SWORD-SONG.
“ Loyalty to m y lord, and vengeance upon m y lord’s slayer.” — Old Japanese Motto.

(Hush , listen — my Soul, my Sword !)
Is he near, the Fox that skulks
And kills in the dark, unseen ?
Shall we, too, hide and strike
In the dark a foe unclean ?
Brave deeds are done in the day.
Sun God, give me steel for sight,
War God, give me arm of steel
To avenge the deed of night.

(His life for life of my lord.)

(Hush, listen — my Soul, my Sword !)
Not molten with toil of days
Was the steel of your fashioning,
But with labor of strenuous years,
And the steel was a living thing.
Through your eager, thirsting veins
The red drops hissing ran,
Pure blood of a fiery Soul,
Proud spirit of a Man.

(His life for life of my lord.)
(Hush, listen — my Soul, my Sword !)
You writhe in my grasp, my Own —
He is near, the Fox we snare !
You lift your quivering length,
One moment — one chance — if he dare !
The blood that is in you gleams
Wicked red, with flashes of light —-
Now, Sword, my Soul, cleave clean !
Revenge is new life, new sight!

(His life for life of my lord.)
(Hush, listen — my Soul, my Sword !)
Am I, too, wounded to death ?
What matter ? My foot can spurn
His body, the Fox that skulked,
That killed in the dark. I earn
Remembrance for loyal love,
For vengeance unto the death —
And this is a glorious way
For a man to yield his breath.
(His life for life of my lord.)

Mary Stockton Hunter.