Manly Love
In Japan the Samurai
got tired of war:
Let's have an ethic of peace
that doesn't disturb the brotherhood
So the Samurai became monks
The Samurai code remained:
Cold baths
silence
and manly love
In India, Asoka
hadn't left a tree standing
not to mention elephant or peacock
The countryside lay waste
The cities had stored up wealth
against the plague
Men at arms
went begging with a bowl
arm-in-arm
and all the gods were pleased
In Arabia
the hordes descended
in God's name
instead of a mere tribe's
Not son but brother mattered
like a lion in his pride
It is a survival between contemporaries
So war was made into love
Man into woman
Woman into the Sea
War is antiquated
Love is our contemporary.
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