Classic Poem

Ancient Nippon a sombre guest
Sends to your quiet home for rest—
A quiet guest who is most fain
To know you, yet to entertain
Hath little skill, on some dim shelf
Craves only to withdraw himself,
And like an old brown man, retires
To solitude and small desires.

One wish he hath, and that to hold
Sometimes a flower of red or gold
And offer its contrasting bloom
From his dark corner in your room,
As when an old, scarred grandsire sage
Lets childhood shine against his age.