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Poems

Chapter 33: A JAPANESE FAN
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About This Book

A lyrical collection of short poems that moves between domestic intimacy and mythic or maritime imagery, often meditating on motherhood, childhood, sleep, and loss. The pieces range from direct child songs and brief quatrains to sonnets, hymns, odes, and narrative ballads, and include themed sequences such as child songs and a set of Iseult poems. Language favors simple, musical phrasing and quiet introspection, balancing tenderness and elegy with occasional folktale drama. Recurring motifs of nature, the sea, and longing knit the diverse pieces into a cohesive emotional landscape.

A JAPANESE FAN

Is it so warm in old Japan?
Do flowers flaunt out such riot glare?
Hangs that soft, golden mist so low?
Ah me, ah me, to journey there!
Inked out against the yellow glow
One sharp peak rises, blackly bare;
A stately swan steers up the sky—
Ah me, ah me, to journey there!
And see her as she furls her fan!
Was ever lady half so fair?
She beckons to me with her eyes—
Ah me, ah me, to journey there!
Were ever feet so dainty small?
Was ever coiled such shining hair?
Her hands are like curled lily-buds—
Ah me, ah me, to journey there!
Fan-pictured, dear Japan, thy calm
Fills us of West with dull despair!
(The palm-leaves sift the sunlight through)
Ah me, ah me, to journey there!