There is, I think, a splinter in my eye

I said as I did my best John Wayne

And pretended I would not cry

She would not, I think, like my pain

Yoshiko had been my mentor and my friend

I will cherish and honor her until my end

My first sensei and grandmother in one

I can only hope she’d be proud of what I’ve done

In age of few women heroes, she was mine

The lessons she taught were less mundane than divine

And kept deep inside my deepest soul

Her words of kindness that sought to console

There is not a day that passes that I do not see her teaching

Lived more in her example than in her preaching