The Poetry Corner

Nippon

By Alfred Noyes

Last night, I dreamed of Nippon.... I saw a cloud of white Drifting before the sunset On seas of opal light. Beyond the wide Pacific I saw its mounded snow Miraculously changing In that deep evening glow, To rosy rifts and hillocks, To orchards that I knew, To snows of peach and cherry, And feathers of bamboo. I saw, on twisted bridges, In blue and crimson gleams, The lanterns of the fishers, Along the brook of dreams. I saw the wreaths of incense Like little ghosts arise, From temples under Fuji, From Fuji to the skies. I saw that fairy mountain.... I watched it form and fade. No doubt the gods were singing, When Nippon isle was made.