Buddha at Kamakura
Oh ye who tread the Narrow WayBy Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,Be gentle when the ‘heathen’ prayTo Buddha at Kamakura!
To him the Way, the Law, Apart,Whom Maya held beneath her heart,Ananda’s Lord the Bodhisat,The Buddha of Kamakura.
For though he neither burns nor sees,Nor hears ye thank your Deities,Ye have not sinned with such as these,His children at Kamakura;
Yet spare us still the Western jokeWhen joss-sticks turn to scented smokeThe little sins of little folkThat worship at Kamakura--
The grey-robed, gay-sashed butterfliesThat flit beneath the Master’s eyes--He is beyond the MysteriesBut loves them at Kamakura.
And whoso will, from Pride released,Contemning neither creed nor priest,May feel the soul of all the EastAbout him at Kamakura.
Yea, every tale Ananda heard,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,A-flower ’neath her golden htee,The Shwe-Dagon flare easterlyFrom Burmah to Kamakura;
And down the loaded air there comesThe thunder of Thibetan drums,And droned--‘Om mane padme oms’--A world’s width from Kamakura.
Yet Brahmans rule Benares still,Buddh-Gaya’s ruins pit the hill,And beef-fed zealots threaten illTo Buddha and Kamakura.
A tourist-show, a legend told,A rusting bulk of bronze and gold,So much, and scarce so much, ye holdThe meaning of Kamakura?
But when the morning prayer is prayed,Think, ere ye pass to strife and trade,Is God in human image madeNo nearer than Kamakura?
Words in this poem
- flare v. i.
- To burn with an unsteady or waving flame; as, the candle flares. [Cf. Norw. flara to blaze, flame, adorn with tinsel, dial. Sw. flasa upp, and E. flash, or flacker.]
- maya n.
- The name for the doctrine of the unreality of matter, called, in English, idealism; hence, nothingness; vanity; illusion.
- bodhisat n.
- One who has reached the highest degree of saintship, so that in his next incarnation he will be a Buddha, or savior of the world. -- Bo"dhi*sat`ship, n.
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
- whoso pron.
- Whosoever. Piers Plowman.
- easterly a.
- Coming from the east; as, it was easterly wind.
- thibetan a.
- Of or pertaining to Thibet.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Buddha at Kamakura is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Five Nations, Volume I, Project Gutenberg ebook #60260; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rudyard Kipling, Buddha at Kamakura, in The Five Nations, Volume I (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60260, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-five-nations-1/buddha-at-kamakura.html, id L20241.
Form and metre
Buddha at Kamakura is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AAA- wayA · dayA · prayA · kamakura
- 2 AA-- apartA · heartA · bodhisat · kamakura
- 3 AAA- seesA · deitiesA · theseA · kamakura
- 4 AAA- jokeA · smokeA · folkA · kamakura
- 5 AAA- butterfliesA · eyesA · mysteriesA · kamakura
- 6 AAA- releasedA · priestA · eastA · kamakura
- 7 AAA- heardA · birdA · stirredA · kamakura
- 8 AA-- seeA · hteeA · easterly · kamakura
- 9 AAA- comesA · drumsA · omsA · kamakura
- 10 AAA- stillA · hillA · illA · kamakura
- 11 AAA- toldA · goldA · holdA · kamakura
- 12 AAA- prayedA · tradeA · madeA · kamakura
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh ye who tread the Narrow Way | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Be gentle when the ‘heathen’ pray | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To Buddha at Kamakura! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To him the Way, the Law, Apart, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Whom Maya held beneath her heart, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ananda’s Lord the Bodhisat, | 8 | ········ |
| The Buddha of Kamakura. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For though he neither burns nor sees, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor hears ye thank your Deities, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Ye have not sinned with such as these, | 8 | ········ |
| His children at Kamakura; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Yet spare us still the Western joke | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When joss-sticks turn to scented smoke | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The little sins of little folk | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That worship at Kamakura-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The grey-robed, gay-sashed butterflies | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That flit beneath the Master’s eyes-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He is beyond the Mysteries | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| But loves them at Kamakura. | 8 | ········ |
| And whoso will, from Pride released, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Contemning neither creed nor priest, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| May feel the soul of all the East | 8 | ········ |
| About him at Kamakura. | 8 | ········ |
| Yea, every tale Ananda heard, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of birth as fish or beast or bird, | 8 | ········ |
| While yet in lives the Master stirred, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The warm wind brings Kamakura. | 8 | ········ |
| Till drowsy eyelids seem to see, | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| A-flower ’neath her golden htee, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The Shwe-Dagon flare easterly | 8 | ··/˘·/˘˘ |
| From Burmah to Kamakura; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And down the loaded air there comes | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The thunder of Thibetan drums, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘· |
| And droned--‘Om mane padme oms’-- | 7 | ··˘···· |
| A world’s width from Kamakura. | 8 | ········ |
| Yet Brahmans rule Benares still, | 7 | ······· |
| Buddh-Gaya’s ruins pit the hill, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And beef-fed zealots threaten ill | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To Buddha and Kamakura. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A tourist-show, a legend told, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A rusting bulk of bronze and gold, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| So much, and scarce so much, ye hold | 8 | ········ |
| The meaning of Kamakura? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But when the morning prayer is prayed, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Think, ere ye pass to strife and trade, | 8 | ········ |
| Is God in human image made | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| No nearer than Kamakura? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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