Every day I found exquisite jewels
adrift in magazines
or buried in the efforts of translators.

No one recognized
the sparkle in the town directory,
the gem that graced the index

Nipponia Nippon.
You, most Japanese of birds,
have suffered for your name.
Together with the hooded crane
and white stork,
you fell from flight
that human hands
might touch your mystery.

Although their blows knew no restraint,
Their countenances no control,
He bore their hate without complaint
That love might make their hunger whole.

The curses that had filled the night

No one paid much attention
to them at the time:
the members of the dressage class
who asked all the wrong questions,
claimed to be graduates
of the Bucharest Equestrian Academy