THE TWO PAINTERS

Yoichi Tenko, the painter,

Dwelt by the purple sea,

Painting the peacock islands

Under his willow-tree:

Also in temples he painted

Dragons of old Japan,

With a child to look at the pictures —

Little O Kimi San.

Kimi, the child of his brother,

Bright as the moon in May,

White as a lotus lily,

Pink as a plum-tree spray,

Linking her soft arm round him

Sang to his heart for an hour,

Kissed him with ripples of laughter

And lips of the cherry flower.

Child of the old pearl-fisher

Lost in his junk at sea,

Kimi was loved of Tenko

As his own child might be,

Yoichi Tenko the painter,

Wrinkled and grey and old,

Teacher of many disciples

That paid for his dreams with gold.