Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THE FORGET-ME-NOTS; ON THE PASS OF THE MAIDEN, JAPAN, by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL Poet's Biography First Line: Lo! Fujiyama's snowy cone / the green horizon bounds Last Line: These alien hills I tread. Subject(s): Forget-me-nots; Grief; Japan; Memory; Sorrow; Sadness; Japanese | ||||||||
ON THE PASS OF THE MAIDEN, JAPAN LO! Fujiyama's snowy cone The green horizon bounds, And Miajimi's sacred isle, And Budda's temple-grounds. Ah, once again thy voice is heard; Again we keep our tryst, As when upon the Switzer's hill I stood amid the mist. Within the garden's ordered walks Thy name alone I hear, And miss the gentle voice that calls When none but I am near. But where the mountain summits rise Is ever sacred sod, And here thy timid counsel breathes A deep appeal to God. Ah, least of all the many flowers That on my path are set, Read me thy Sermon on the Mount: What should I not forget? "Forget me not." How simple seems The counsel shyly given! Let each interpret for himself This voice of earth and heaven. Ah! once on Albula's gray pass I prayed that I might get, With foresight of a darker day, The sad leave to forget; Nor knew, alas! how soon would come Sore need to urge my prayer. Ah, tender maidens of the hill That constant sorrow share. Forget? Ah, yes! the living fade From memory, not the dead. Thine are their voices as to-day These alien hills I tread. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHOMEI AT TOYAMA by BASIL BUNTING SONG: SO OFTEN, SO LONG I HAVE THOUGHT by HAYDEN CARRUTH A MONTH IN SUMMER by CAROLYN KIZER TWO JAPANESE POEMS by WILLIAM MEREDITH KEEP DRIVING by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE WATERLILIES AND JAPANESE BRIDGE by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER A WALKAROUND, FOR NEKO; KAMAKURA 11/10/96 by JEROME ROTHENBERG AT TSUKIJI MARKET TOKYO: 1 by JEROME ROTHENBERG A DECANTER OF MADEIRA, AGED 86, TO GEORGE BANCROFT, AGED 86 by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL HOW THE CUMBERLAND WENT DOWN [MARCH 8, 1862] by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL |
|