Poems - 7. Mother China

Mother of countries and mother of men—
You are witness to multitudes
Beyond any other. Mother China—
Ages have tramped across your face,
But like the Buddha's face, still you are beautiful.

On this side of the ocean,
I reside in a lighthouse of bare rock, seeking
The source of my spirit. Longing tinges
The shore behind salt spray and mist,
The far shore to which my gaze is turned.

Yet this white-hearted seed
Has chosen a strange coast with pools
Of night's cobalt. From this high marble perch
I watch ignominious kings seize your name
To the outraged cries of millennia.

Spirit will weather flesh's indignations
And, as the halcyon, return
To that enigmatic smile behind mists,
Or fierce-browed crags of towers,
Or the silent tide pool, still, reflecting the moon.