"And there is a Japanese idol at Kamakura"
Fmaj7 G6 F Am7 xx3210 xx5430 xx35x5 x02010
O ye who tread the Narrow Way
F Am7 Bb Am7
By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,
Fmaj7 G6 F Am7
Be gentle when "the heathen" pray
F Am7 Bb Am7
To Buddha at Kamakura!
Dm7 Em Am
To him the Way, the Law, apart,
G F G F G
Whom Maya held beneath her heart,
Dm7 Em Am
Ananda's Lord, the Bodhisat,
F C Dm7 F G
The Buddha of Kamakura.
For though he neither burns nor sees, [as per A]
Nor hears ye thank your Deities,
Ye have not sinned with such as these,
His children at Kamakura,
Yet spare us still the Western joke [as per B]
When joss-sticks turn to scented smoke
The little sins of little folk
That worship at Kamakura --
C Am Em G
The grey-robed, gay-sashed butterflies
C Am Em G
That flit beneath the Master's eyes.
C Am Em G
He is beyond the Mysteries
C Dm7 F G
But loves them at Kamakura.
And whoso will, from Pride released, [as per A]
Contemning neither creed nor priest,
May feel the Soul of all the East
About him at Kamakura.
Yea, every tale Ananda heard, [as per B]
Of birth as fish or beast or bird,
While yet in lives the Master stirred,
The warm wind brings Kamakura.
Till drowsy eyelids seem to see [as per A]
A-flower 'neath her golden htee
The Shwe-Dagon flare easterly
From Burmah to Kamakura,
And down the loaded air there comes [as per C]
The thunder of Thibetan drums,
And droned -- "Om mane padme hums" --
A world's-width from Kamakura.
Yet Brahmans rule Benares still,
Buddh-Gaya's ruins pit the hill,
And beef-fed zealots threaten ill
To Buddha and Kamakura.
Fmaj7 C
A tourist-show, a legend told,
G Dm7
A rusting bulk of bronze and gold,
Fmaj7 C
So much, and scarce so much, ye hold
G Am7
The meaning of Kamakura?
But when the morning prayer is prayed, [as per B, end on C chord]
Think, ere ye pass to strife and trade,
Is God in human image made
No nearer than Kamakura?
________________________________________
* Om mane padme hums -- The Buddhist invocation.
credits
from Rudyard Kipling,
released June 19, 2015
Poem by Rudyard Kipling
Music by Toby Darling
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