Has come here from the ocean,
And once here each waits
On a set of varied fates
Now and then not kindly. Still,
Despite my streamside vision,
I've left off sermonizing.
The frayed old pack I carry
Back down this long-loved trail
Contains no remedy.
If asked for a reason why
I'd use this mystery
In indirect reply:
The blinded Samurai
Taira no Tomoume
In Yoshitoshi's print
Declines to stand apart,
Fights in the thick of it
Bearing, as talisman,
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