a Robert Pinsky poem

[sprig5]

First saw all this stuff here.

"They had no poet and died." --Alexander Pope

Samurai Song

When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.

When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.

When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.

When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.

When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.

When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.

Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted sleep.

--Robert Pinksy

http://poem-of-the-week.blogspot.com/2006/10/samurai-song-by-robert-pinsky.html
http://orbitalteapot.blogspot.com/2007/04/pinksy-samurai-song.html