Shinto

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Title:     Shinto
Author: Cale Young Rice [More Titles by Rice]

(MIYAJIMA, JAPAN, 1905)

Lowly temple and torii,
Shrine where the spirits of wind and wave
Find the worship and glory we
Give to the one God great and grave--

Lowly temple and torii,
Shrine of the dead, I hang my prayer
Here on your gates--the story see
And answer out of the earth and air.

For I am Nature's child, and you
Were by the children of Nature built.
Ages have on you smiled--and dew
On you for ages has been spilt--

Till you are beautiful as Time
Mossy and mellowing ever makes:
Wrapped as you are in lull--or rhyme
Of sounding drum that sudden breaks.

This is my prayer then, this: that I
Too may reverence all of life,
Lose no power and miss no high
Awe, of a world with wonder rife!

That I may build in spirit fair
Temples and torii on each place
That I have loved--Oh, hear it, Air,
Ocean and Earth, and grant your grace!

[The end]
Cale Young Rice's poem: Shinto

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