goodbye matilija 115
A poem-slip, that says
Even in darkness, one
Can see the moon with the heart.
But there's no moon in this print,
No indirect sign of it,
In shadow, or weapon-glint,
For us with eyes, to see.
(It is this print alone
which is without a moon.)
Say Yoshitoshi meant
To say a no-moon is
An aspect of the moon
Which he cannot omit,
That once, there was no moon,
And that there'll be no moon
Again, in time; that these
Twinned non-existences
Accompany the moon,
It never goes alone;
Which a blind Samurai
Found with his darkness-eyes,
Leaving him battle-fi t
On ground two no-moons lit.
Note: The print is number 33 in Yoshitoshi's One Hundred Aspects of the Moon.