SAYONARA

By the well's green water
Under the willow shade tree
Leaves of light fall golden
Golden fall and lightly

Autum sun ripens golden
Fruit of heaven's windfall
Leaves lie on the water
Pale moon lights her candle

Fire-bright fox-eyes burn through the night
Badgers limned by lantern light
Stars on the wing are geese in flight

Silvery fish in jade pools
Mirroring rose-tipped mountains
Emperors and ladies
Wander among sweet fountains

Comet-swift blades of bright steel
Ivory netsukes graven
Samurai sleeping dragon-scaled
Under the vault of heaven

Mountain echoes round the valley linger mingling
Where in palace gardens maidens
Courtly melodies are fingering

Porcelain blue in stillness
Pewter the lake by moonlight
Noon-kiln cools through evening
Figurines glazed in starlight

Quills in the inkwell teilight
Willow-fronds sketch Ming shadows
Indigo and violet
Veining the mists and white snows

Fire-bright fox-eyes burn through the night
Badgers limned by lantern light
Stars on the wing are geese in flight

By the well's green water
Under the willow shade tree
Leaves of light fall golden
Golden fall and lightly