A Word'S Magic

Do you remember Etajima, And how, upon a moon-fogged sea, As ghostly as ever a tide shall be, We passed an island silently?

And how a low voice in the gloom Of the temple pine-trees leaning there Said sayonara to one somewhere Unseen in the shadow-haunted air?

Just sayonara: but it seemed The soul of all farewells that night, The sigh of all withdrawn delight, The sound of love's last rapture-rite.

And now, after long years, it comes Again from isles of memory To bring once more to birth in me The breath of all lost witchery.

Yes, one low word of parting, now Echoing, thro the fog of years, Has touched my heart with beauty's tears, And youth thro all things reappears.