Samurai Song
Last Friday, I heard Garrison Keillor, on his Writer's Almanac, read a poem by Robert Pinsky in honor of Pinsky's birthday. It's called "Samurai Song" and I post it here so I won't lose it.
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 my sleep.
Categories
poetry and prose2 Comments
I use SS for my religion classes; Cath. Doctrine and O. Test.; kids memorize a page of what I think useful; among them SS> "I made care my father..." I'm pushing the note that an orphan "no father" can sub. "care" or just investing in whatever is in your face and let it release its energy; your "care" can be a family for you; care-less is the xact opposite. Yr. thots?
best gorman
I think the speaker is saying that when he had a father, he felt cared for. And when he had a mother, she brought order to his life. WIth them gone, he attempts to compensate for what they can no longer provide by focusing on and providing care and order for himself.