Kamigamo Shrine

Today we visited Kamigamo Shrine for a field trip for my Shinto class. It's said to be the shrine for poets, so I decided that I'd write a poem. So here it is along with a couple of pictures!

Kamigamo Shrine

Beneath eaves of shadows
and murmuring trees
we ponder the vermilion bones

of worship holding the sky
with prayer-stiffened shoulders:
an offering to the god of thunder

who scalds the soul
and purifies the heart
with lightning.

The heavens shine back at us, smooth
and sleepy, uncurling lazy golden
tongues; yawns snapping through leaves:

today there is no such violence
of heat and incandescent terror.
Today, the white messenger horse of the gods

rests in its pasture; the wooden stages
stand silent with polished composure;
by the stream, paper fortunes knot bamboo

the way bracelets festoon flesh
until slowly pried loose by the fingers
of children and wind and rain.

The bells are quiet.
Our footsteps shush the birds,
and you can hear nothing

but the sound of sunlight
and running water:

the sound of kami breathing.