Poem by Marc Gatien
MASTERS IN TRAINING...
The bells ring and I detect incenses,
butterflies in my stomach have cooled their senses.
Enter the armoury as a mere man,
leave as warriors of the same clan.
Spread to four corners on the hard floor,
contorting our bodies to melt our core.
The time is close at hand, let us prepare,
place your cloth on the ground and wipe the floor bare.
All in a row, we are stakes in the ground,
we do not move, do not make a sound.
The teacher comes forth and our journey begins,
we bow our bodies, but raise our chins.
The doors are flung open for all to know,
we're in his world now with no place to go.
Working long and hard without much break,
for those who quit quick this was a mistake.
I've tried my best and my muscles all ache,
even ones I didn't know that I could awake.
Pushing the limit as far as we can,
reaching our goals with a guiding hand.
But its over now and we must go,
what wills me to stay I do not know.
I am reminded that the test isn't done,
because life is a game that cannot be won.
Though, if I take time to practice my skills,
I'll be scaling more mountains than hills.
-- Marc Gatien -- June 2002
I found this wonderful poem at this site:
http://www.diegobeltran.com/htms/dojo/studentsvoice.htm#poemMarc
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11 comments:
A great poem. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Re:
Working long and hard without much break,
for those who quit quick this was a mistake
I wonder what it is that make some people stick and others quit? I wonder whether psychological profiling (eg Myers Briggs) would reveal anything of interest. I know of a little work that has been done on that. Do you?
Karate entered my soul during lesson 1. I felt I had to break from it to have children (I didn't feel it fair to anyone to spar whilst pregnant). But now I'm back again, I just can not see it leaving me till the day I die. I once read of a man who'd been in a terrible car accident and who was left quite disabled. He continued to train, believing that "as long as I can breath I can train"
there's a kyokushin dojo just minutes from where I live. I'm gonna look it up. Strangely, they don't seem to be related with the bigger kyokushin dojo around here... That bigger one not affiliated with the kyokusin association. That bigger one doesn't have a very good reputation also.
Interesting.
That is great poem. I didn't look, but is the author a martial artist? Even if he is not, I think it is important for a martial artist to enjoy or even write poetry. After all, what are the martial arts but poetry in motion? Great post, thanks for sharing that with us.
Very nice poem. Musashi composed poetry. I checked out that link you included -- it's a Kyokushin site. Have you ever read or heard stories about Kyokushin founder, Mas Oyama? I'm sure you have (you mentioned you studied this style once). Did you know that Mas Oyama and Donn Draeger provided their expertise to develop some martial arts stunt scenes for a James Bond movie? (It was during Sean Connery's reign -- I don't remember which movie it was)
No Ruth.. I don't know much about psychological profiling. Would you please expand on that topic? It sounds interesting.
My favorite part of this poem is the last line:
"Though, if I take time to practice my skills,
I'll be scaling more mountains than hills."
I like that idea so much!
For me, Mat.. it's not the style but the Sensei that makes the dojo. When I walked into my Kyokushin dojo for the first time, the whole concept of "Full Contact" fighting frightened me immensely.. but having a good Sensei guiding me, I find myself accepting more and more, and challenging myself to do things that I didn't think that I could do.
I feel that finding a Sensei that "clicks" with you is most important.
Yes, Oniyagi, I believe that the author of this poem is one of the students of this dojo therefore a martial artist.
You're welcome.. I couldn't help but share it. I liked it that much.
Yes, I'm still training in both Kyokushin, and Shotokan. One foot on each path, and balancing my training to meet the needs of both. VERY difficult, and demanding.
"Have you ever read or heard stories about Kyokushin founder, Mas Oyama? "
I have read some of them, John, but not the one that you mentioned, that he and Don Daeger helped with a James Bond movie. I'd really like to read up on that, and see the movie too (if possible). When I have time I'll google it to see what I can unearth.
I forgot to say it is a nice poem :)
:)
I love your poems I am currently taking shotokan karate. I am looking up poems for a school project I am definitely using your poem thanks so much you are a life saver cause we got to relate the poem to our lives I am in love with fighting I am working on kata I am a blue belt.
Welcome to my weblog, Please remember to credit the author of the poem if you quote it. I am not the author
Mr. Marc Gatien is the author and he wrote the poem in June 2002.
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