Over the years I have paid homage to Japan in many of my poems but the following piece from 1995, seems particularly significant to me now in light of recent tragic events. It is based on an old Japanese folk tale about the Rashomon Gate in Kyoto. The city slumbers ill at ease As winds assail the maple trees, The kiri and the mountain pine. The shrouded moon so dimly shines Upon the houses as they keep The people safe in...