Metal

The swords on the wall look like the Yellow Emperors needles

Bronze and pointed and completely blunt

These swords were given to the gods

Buried in lines within the soil

Those needles were given to the body

Lightly blessing each point

These needles are not swords for wounding

But for blessing and honouring

Metal to improve the defences

Knowing that it can take life, or revitalise it

Martial tools to fight or wound

Being used to pray or heal

Invisible gods and invisible immunity

Religion and medicine hand in hand

Fight the disease with a blessing

Welcome it then invite it to leave

As if apathy prevents immunity

Make a ceremony for the problem

Waking a drowsy body up

To the point where it can heal

The sword tapped it on the shoulder

So it can use its own defences

The metal itself threatening and honouring

In equal measure

This illness is worth its weight

In bronze

Standing like a warrior in white:

The clinician

This picture shows my drawing of a replica of what it is thought the Yellow Emperors needles looked like (many layers of interpretation!); and this is a photo of lots of blunt swords dug up near Izumo which are thought to have been buried as a gift to the gods.