On this windy April afternoon
cherries in full bloom and hemlock bowing
and bamboo bending as the zen proverb
tells us we should learn to do;
on this afternoon I lie on the couch
watching clouds pass
and think, first, of that almost other world
the wind comes from, cold circle of the pole,
waves slushing icy shores year after millions of years,
no one to hear but the migrant birds
and sea lions who slip from their caves
on the coast to follow cold currents north--
and then I consider that other world,
wherever it is, that we all disappear into,
and resolve not to rise from the couch
but to savor
this moment of wind and blossoms falling.
|