Bushido

Perceive that which cannot be seen      
with the eye ~ Miyamoto Mushashi        
        
Bushidō does not quilt needles of bone          
into a deep olive battleground        
unprovoked; nor is it an acquisition          
of robust spoils for the champion.          
         
Neither is it a lavish banquet        
encrusted with the delicacies        
of an ancient Asiatic ritual,          
or salty Mediterranean basin:        
its sun, sea, and olive treeline.            
         
Bushidō is old and mythic        
an equanimity of spirit;          
a magnanimous silence          
amid amber wine and incense          
tasting the stillness of balance        
deep from the recess of self.          
         
It is the ability to retain          
self-control despite circumstance;          
compose poetry despite death          
revealing no weakness          
in the verse itself;        
it welcomes a larger expanse—          
         
Yoyū: an immense surplus of mind          
opening to possibilities beyond        
what current events present.          
         
Your spirit is Bushidō:        
the Way of the Warrior  
as it was in the past;            
mine is a kunoichi        
of boundless loyalty        
even unto death—        
and all this poetry          
shall become a compass        
discovered in our next life        
         
just as it was in this.          
~