Classic Poem

A Screen by Sotatsu

Around islands of jade and malachite
And lapis-lazuli and jasper,
Under golden clouds,
Struggle the grey-gold waves.

The waves are advancing,
Swirling, eddying; the pale waves
Are leaping into foam, and retreating —
And straining again until they seem not waves
But gigantic crawling hands.
The waves clutch at the clouds,
The near and golden clouds,
They rise in spires over the clouds,
And over the pine-branch set against the clouds.
And around the islands,
Jasper and jade,
Their rhythms circle and sweep and re-echo
With hollow and foam-crest,
Infinitely interlacing their orbits and cycles
That join and unravel, and battle and answer,
From tumult to tumult, from music to music,
Crest to trough, foam-height to hollow,
Peace drowning passion, and passion
Leaping from peace.