my daily poem march 22, 2004

Folder: 
Tanka Poems

city of many many millions

A throbbing city with

A thousand dreams

And a painful past

Earthquakes, fires, killings,

Allied bombings, palace intrigues

Power struggles and

Religious persecutions

Never douse its forward

Matching spirit to the fore

Of technology, fashion, ideas,

Knowledge and world peace

A city that has astounded the

World with its mindboggling transformation

From feudal backgrounds to

Modernity and world's top in less

Than a century never

Fails to fascinate a foreigner

With its contrasts between

The old and the new

The Occident and the Orient

A geisha walking under her

colourful parasol

in the midst

Of modern skyscrapers

An emotion charged enka played

Amid catchy modern hits

Old Chinese inspired temples, jinjas

And pagodas with up-to-date facilities

The only city in the world

That forever renounces war

In its constitution

This is Tokyo, a city fortunate

Enough to have Van Goh's Sunflower

Nobel-prize writer Yasunari Kawabata

Oscar Samurai celluloid creator Akira Kurosawa

The blessings of Sungoddess Amaterasu

And auspices of the world's oldest monarchy

The next great earthquake

Predicted to strike anytime

Doesnt seem to dim the enthusiasm of

Its populace who seek out every

Inch of land here for

More development and......fun!

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