For Mishima

For Mishima
By
Joseph Anthony Petro

 

 
Wear a kimono,
Dawn the sun,
Sweat with your lovers
And night soil men,
Put down your tanto,
Lift up the pen,
Sweat with your lovers,
And dance in the snow of your words.
Step one way
Or the other,
Away from the purgatory
Of being trapped in the fourth wall,
Go beyond shame,
Go beyond dysphoria,
And sweat with your lovers
And night soil men.
Let the mask of your grandmother,
Mask of St. Sebastian, mask
Of traditions, mask of the broken mirror,
And let them melt away like painted snow,
And then dance Imperial Crescent Moon–
Dance with your words
And dance with yourself
And sweat with your lovers
In beds of satin,
Take Omi’s hand—his white-gloved hand,
And walk the dew covered grass
To the Golden Pavilion,
And wrestle with him, like a child
In its golden light,
Blossom in his arms,
Let him cool your fevers
And clear your lungs
With his breath,
And let the terrible destruction
Wrought by shame
And straying too far
From your luminous beauty,
Fall away like cherry blossom petals in spring,
And dance, dance in the fields
Of your flame-colored words,
And let the Emperor of Peace
Rule your troubled and elegant land.