Witter Bynner

In the House of Lafcadio Hearn (1917)

I left my name today
Before him and Buddha,
And knelt among his books,
And had tea with his wife and two children
And bowed low to them . . .
And then in his garden,
When his wife picked for me the petals I wished,
His son said,
“But he liked the maple best,”
And brought me a spray of young leaves.

For an overview of Bynner’s Japanese interests see Witter Bynner and Japan in the Bibliography. ‘In the House’ (BE3a) appeared in A Canticle of Pan and Other Poems (BE3).

Bynner’s work in print in the United States concerns his Chinese rather than his Japanese interests. This includes The Chinese Translations (available here) and The Way of Life According to Laotzu: An American Version (available here). Prose Pieces (BE19) and Letters (BE20), both of which contain material related to Japan, are offered with limited availablity in the UK, here and here.