Japan

Nanao Sakaki came to Denman once
the wandering poet brought love
and the stories of indigenous
he sang and read his heart loud
Later he asked me to read my poems
then invited me to come to Japan to
help save the last of the rivers
about to be damned he said come
and we will walk a hundred miles
oh Nanao I said for me to go to
Japan why it would be like going
to the moon its a place I dream

Now Japan has come to my heart
the water has swept every pore
and I am adrift in a deep sorrow
I am clogged heart core centre
as a river of great great sorrow
drowns all the faces of yesterday