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DÄI NIPPON
APART from all,
"Child of the World's old age,"
Heedful of naught beyond the billowy wall
That closely girt her island hermitage,
She pondered still with half-averted look,
The early lessons of the great World-book,
Nor cared to turn the page;
For a strange dread
Possessed her. To invoke
Aid of her gods she tried,—scarce comforted
That countless barrier-waves about her broke;
But when with bold command, in Yeddo Bay
A squadron anchored—oh, prodigious day!—
The Orient awoke!
Though one long blind,
At first in fruitless quest
Must grope her course, yet, with enlarging mind,
She quickly clearer saw; and from her breast
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