NIPPON

Last night, I dreamed of Nippon....

I saw a cloud of white

Drifting before the sunset

On seas of opal light.

Beyond the wide Pacific

I saw its mounded snow

Miraculously changing

In that deep evening glow,

To rosy rifts and hillocks,

To orchards that I knew,

To snows of peach and cherry,

And feathers of bamboo.

I saw, on twisted bridges,

In blue and crimson gleams,

The lanterns of the fishers,

Along the brook of dreams.

I saw the wreaths of incense

Like little ghosts arise,

From temples under Fuji,

From Fuji to the skies.

I saw that fairy mountain....

I watched it form and fade.

No doubt the gods were singing,

When Nippon isle was made.