Forbidden Love Of A Samurai Poem by Maurice Rowlands

Away from the watchful eyes
Throughout the Imperial Palace
Into the jasmine scented garden
She takes secret solace
To meet the love so forbidden
The only sounds around
Are the clanking of swords
From the nearby training ground
And the intruding sweet notes
Of the koto harp
Played by the young geisha
Sitting amongst the pink blossom
High up on the mound

He waits with a nervous look
A warriors eyes of fire
By the meandering stream
To hand her a sakurasou
The flower of desire
As foretold in a dream
By an amabie mermaid
She knows he'd be there
Waiting to lift her heart
Up to the enveloping clouds
On the highest peaks
Of Mount Shiomi
In all its splendour and glory

He would walk barefoot
For a thousand winter moons
From Osaka to Nagoya
To be with her
Like a lotus flower
That opens its heart
To the rising of the sun
But startled by the sudden
Flapping of a nearby dove
She must return to the palace
With that heartfelt future promise
The Empress kisses him gently
Her forbidden Samurai love