One Last Poem: Samurai Song

[browngirl]

So, National Poetry Month is over; it's May First, and a lovely May First too. And yet, last night Teddywolf saved an episode of The Colbert Report to show Tigerlily, and I was also within the blast radius. A metaphor-off between Colbert and Sean Penn, moderated by Robert Pinsky! Stephen Colbert proclaimed that this poem of Pinsky's needs to be the #1 poem in the US, and who am I to disobey him?

Samurai Song
Robert Pinsky

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 my sleep.

Comments

[sage]

omg yay!! I am SO glad you posted this. I wish now that I'd posted something by him for NPM. :D

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, but you posted *tons* of good stuff already. Man, this was a fun month.