YOSANO AKIKO
birthday Dec.7, 1878

The lyrics you pen
from your wrist
are still modern
and delicate in their twist
of raw cutting emotion
from your pacifist words
here in a Japanese Zen garden
by the sands of an ocean beach
we swoon to participate
as you pardon our wounds
we wait on the small birds
from a less fevered heaven
to reaching out
in a lyrical way
and sing a musical chorus
by the mourning dove
and all we ask
is a handful of stones
to toss by the river
shivering from hunger
in this orphaned world
at a monastery's silence
under the juniper trees
and red Autumn yews
away from storms
of war rumors and violence
we hear on the radio news
to be delivered by a warm sun
along this breezy river bed,
visit us today Yosano Akiko
with the beauty of your verse
covering a unique fiery spark
with friendship and kinship
from all shadows of the dark
bring us to seek your light
where we are safe from snow
covering the Common statues
as a cat appears by mistletoe
here in early winter
we wish to hear a lark
over a bright fir tree's glow
at a public park.