Sakura

Poem in every petal

But I, illiterate one

Stare blindly -

Under August’s Sakura sun

‘Am I even worthy?’ I wonder

Staring at the pink,

In your jewelled parchments

I see only squiggles of ink

 

‘And what makes one worthy?’

Asks a petal passing by,

‘That you could read the world

Though you never made a try,

Or that, impoverished one

You were willing to die

That you could love us all

Through the teardrops in your eye?’

 

‘Ephemeral that we are,

Bookbinder, writer, all -

One breeze of winter’s last

And every floret stands to fall

What summer’s tree remembers then

A’int scribes of spring and frost

But those who crafted garlands

Even with petals that were lost…’

 

18^th August’23

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Dedicated to the transience of cherry blossoms in the advent of spring

Images: Author's archives