IN the blossom-land Japan Somewhere thus an old song ran. Said a warrior to a smith "Hammer me a sword forthwith. Make the blade Light as wind on water laid. Make it long As the wheat at harvest song. Supple, swift As a snake, without rift, Full of lightnings, thousand-eyed! Smooth as silken cloth and thin As the web that spiders spin. And merciless as pain, and cold." "On the hilt what shall be told?" "On the sword's hilt, my good man," Said the warrior of Japan, "Trace for me A running lake, a flock of sheep And one who sings her child to sleep." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE A SONG OF PANAMA by ALFRED DAMON RUNYON EVOLUTION by JOHN BANISTER TABB AN ELECTIVE COURSE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A BLESSING FOR THE BLESSED by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA FOUR SONNETS: 3 by FRANK DAVIS ASHBURN THE WELCOME by FARID OD-DIN MOHAMMAD EBN EBRAHIM ATTAR EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 31. 'TIS YIELDING GAINS THE LOVER VICTORY by PHILIP AYRES |