#16 - I soothe my soul and sing my secret song

...a reimagining of my own sonnet Ishiyama-dera from 2019...

As cherry blossoms bud and wagtails throng

where Ishiyama-dera holds my heart

I soothe my soul and sing my secret song

Within its walls the words of gods prolong

our wisdom to divine and shape a chart

as cherry blossoms bud and wagtails throng

Yet under skies our uncloaked minds are strong

wherever beauty flows or dreams may dart

I soothe my soul and sing my secret song

These forests, streams and mountains all belong

to industry and poetry and art

as cherry blossoms bud and wagtails throng

While men break faith and evils wreak their wrong

and daughters weep before a charnel cart

I soothe my soul and sing my secret song

The priest bows low and strikes the temple gong

but I am lost in reverie apart

as cherry blossoms bud and wagtails throng

I soothe my soul and sing my secret song

RJT

#6 - Ishiyama-dera

Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 - c. 1014) - novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting

I am novel ‒ scripture is my blood,

Ishiyama-dera makes me whole ‒

the clouds of cherry blossom newly-bud

a floating bridge of dreams across my soul.

I am violet ‒ colour is my code,

calligraphy and woodcut shape my name ‒

the future is a winding forest road

where waters mirror patterns I became.

But I am woman ‒ language is my child,

struggling into myth behind a screen ‒

a lonely daughter still unreconciled

to all the words of men and what they mean.

The priest bows low and strikes the temple gong,

for I am singer - Genji is my song.

RJT