Idyll of the Prince

Idyll of the Prince

(Legend of Yuzuru Hanyu)

On Ice

O, young Yuzuru, when did Chione search

The plains of Sendai for a fragile soul

And strengthen it with cords of oak and birch

To send it forth upon an icy knoll?

And when upon this knoll did she bestow

Her blesséd gifts of fortitude and grace --

With patience for the wintry skills that grow

From hardships trimmed by virtue’s soft embrace?

A coruscating light ignites our time

With spins and turns and monumental leaps

With feats of artful elegance sublime

With grand jetés and arching, rink-long sweeps.

No man has graced the ice more fit or fair

Than young Yuzuru, prince of ice and air.  

On Air
 

Does strength propel Yuzuru to the sky?

Can confidence sufficiently defeat

A hundred windward forces to reply

In tilted turns where ice and vapor meet?

Does skill alone effect a faultless jump?

Is work sufficient for a flawless spin?

Are labor's tireless schemes enough to trump

The tread and toil of others groomed to win?

For noble gifts belong to others, too

(They aren’t restricted to a narrow lot)

And laurels of achievement will accrue

To those who struggle for the highest spot.

No, something even greater lies beyond

The valor witnessed on a frozen pond.

On Earth

Perhaps the answer lies across the rink

In shadows that demark the ice’s edge

Where sits a silent boy inclined to think

Of things he might not otherwise allege.

Not lofty things that lesser men would seize:

Medallions cast in silver, bronze, and gold

(For he, himself, has earned enough of these

To satisfy ambitions young and old).

But just to gaze upon the handsome prince

And have the gaze endearingly returned

And in that moment feel the frost evince

A universe of gilded joy unearned.

From Javier’s glance, a lesson to recall:

That life is love, and love uplifts us all.