Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BAMBOO, THE PLUM AND THE PINE, by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BAMBOO, THE PLUM AND THE PINE, by                    
First Line: Somewhere in this land they must be found
Last Line: To the new year three-in-one, the bamboo, the plum and the pine.
Subject(s): Holidays; Marriage; New Year; Worship; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


SOMEWHERE in this land they must be found,
The bamboo, the plum and the pine.
Because your heart is good I beg you:
Bring me a little of each;
A branch of plum-tree and a spray of pine.
These, at least, can be found. And if it be possible
A tiny bit, however small, of bamboo.
You know it is our custom at the New Year
To stand these three, bound together,
Before the doorway of our home.
And now that my New Year is beginning,
Or will before the day is over,
I would look again at last
Upon that which long ago I loved.
Very long—because for many years
I have been in a strange land—my husband's—
And have worshipped his God,
As it is meet that a wife should do—or Gods;—
For to my woman's brain it never has been clear
Whether one God it is, or three, his people worship.

But God or Gods, it matters not,
What he worshipped, and his fathers,
That did I, for I was his wife.
And faithful wife have I been.
But now a new bride-groom calls,
One who will hold all women at last;
And to his arms I go. So now am I free,
Free in rev'rence once more to bow
To the bamboo, the plum and the pine.
Free to lie once more as a child on the mats.
So take me down. This bed seems strange.
I am no more my husband's wife,
But the wife of the calling bride-groom.
Who knows that all faiths in the end are one,
And knows that no sin lies in one last rev'rence
To the New Year three-in-one, the bamboo, the plum and the pine.





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