- "THE
GRADING"
-
- The
test would last just hours
- Though
their training spanned the years,
- Could
those who watched appreciate
- Their
hope - their pride - their fears,
-
- To
test they're bodies and their minds
- For
hours they must drill,
- Knowing
that the sweat that flows
- Is
governed by their will,
-
- Success
is what their training breeds
- It
is written in their creed,
- And
memories of their classes past
- Are
dreams on which they feed,
-
- The
seconds tick, the minutes pass
- The
hours seem like years,
- Their
Sensei is not satisfied
- "Again"
rings in their ears,
-
- Basics
now - their legs cry out
- Each
step a painful stance,
- Kata
next - "mo ichi do"
- As
if they're in a trance,
-
- Some
glance at those they struggle with
- Beneath
this summer sun,
- They're
look it says - without your help
- I
never could have won,
-
- The
rank and title that they seek
- They
claim through years of strife,
- More
than firiend they are bonded now
- For
all their earthly life,
-
- For
Shotokan is what they do
- Karate
is their art,
- The
lessons that their Sensei taught
- Are
planted in their heart,
-
- He
asked - they gave - a fair exchange
- He
is a master of this cast,
- Who
promised them a memory
- For
all their life to last,
-
- And
when their gradings over
- A
sweet silence fills the air,
- Four
mute walls a testament
- To
what they had to bear,
-
- The
lights are off the door is locked
- To
open once again,
- When
others seek to follow them
- And
walk this road of pain,
-
- Now
age may dull thier memory
- Their
youth God will take back,
- But
forever they are Sempai's now
- Who've
earned their belt of black.
-
- This
poem was written by
- Sensei
Peter Lindsay, Go Dan (FSKA)
