Under The Cherry

Sitting under the cherry tree
Watching the pedals fall
In the gusting and calming breezes
I try to catch them,
Standing from my reading and grasping at the air
But the effort itself creates its own defeat
Since the hand builds a windstream.
Resigned once, I sit and watch while reading
The stronger winds enticing me again swirl about me,
Whipping in curls and circles a blossom storm:
“Being so in the clustering thick of things,
Rapt and enwrapped in the rising and falling real world”
Upon these words the petals fall.
Only when again I give up the chase, the wind dies to a drift
And I concentrate instead on the world of thought,
Teasing me back to the substance around me,
I see the bees flit about the blossoms.
Being choosey
I make the pedals bookmarks
Which in short order turn a deeper pink,
Being even more beautiful in their fading lifelessness.
"Beauty comes easiest to the one who waits",
The robin proclaims
Sitting now atop the cheery
Exclaiming the white and pink
With song in red,
Splitting in its separate parts,
So as the wind shifts into my face
The pedals beat upon my breast
And fall into my lap,
Punctuating Annie’s words;
“I cannot ask for more than to be so wholly acted upon,
Flown at, and lighted on in throngs”
Until one solitary pedal,
Wanting to be a fellow traveler,
As if appreciating my companionship,
Lights against my shoulder
And slides into my pocket.

Fly Ribbon

the bird holds in its beak
a scrap of pinkish red ribbon.
it is the kind of small ribbon with a little loop
 that is worn frequently now,
especially in this town of many causes,
in the name of some effort that should be remembered,
or not forgotten, or hoped for cared for or supported;
reach in your pocket for the little bird,
sing out her cause for the little chirping children
she will place in the nest she is building with the red ribbon.
sing it out now as she flies away
carrying that cause in the bright promise of the Spring sun
 like the prayers of the zen flying in the wind
winging to the sky undulating up
toward the land of eternal answers
 then down again to the labors of earth
where hope is reborn in this time.

Home

Lifetime world watching
Discovers cherry blossoms
In my own front yard

Link

Joyous Spring bloom,
Sakura brings at home
Links to tragedy