To read a Chinese newspaper, they say,
Three thousand characters you must learn.
The Chinese bow to a discipline stern:
If they learn to read, with their youth they pay.

Everyone else has an alphabet. Why
Do the Chinese stick to their cumbrous screed?
The modern world offers an easier read,
Yet obstinately this fact they deny.

A “How to” book, some ink and a brush-
I drew my first symbol, the word for “good”.
A bliss unsought flowed through my blood
Through bowels and brain in a glorious rush!

How can it be that at seventy-seven
A crazy script opens the gates of heaven?