To the rhododendrons, yet again

 

There is that happiness, sunlight bright

That makes you smiling glad,

And then, there is happiness,

Filtered through the fractus clouds

That only makes you sad.

 

It was the latter joy I found today

Wrapped in a hundred hue,

In Spring-filled azaleas

And rhododendrons

Hid in the Mountains Blue

 

So many colours in His palette of joy

Even white had many a tone

And yet, this canvas that comes

Once a year

Makes this heart to mourn

 

So much happiness once in a while

Is sometimes much to take,

That feeling of emptiness when

You stumble on a truth and find

Everything else is fake

 

Melancholy hides in that truest joy

It bleeds your heart to smile

And only in pain

You’ll find your peace

Once you’ve given up all awhile

 

It is in that surrender sweet

That peace blooms in a million way

Some find it in the winter rains,

Or in summer’s clouds of indigo

Others – in the rhododendrons’ sway

 

In a week’s time, this joy will slip

The blooms will crumble in the heart,

But you - you will get to choose

To go out and crumble one more time

Then to rise, and then restart

 

Or come back in a span of a year

And tell this to the blooms anew

In your emptied joy, I’ve shorn my wings

And now at last, the ruddy earth

Is all the same as the skies in blue

 

I have broken from the want of joy

Now there is no more need for peace

Bud and blossom, or a petal that floats

They have all been fused - just as

My many streams of gloom and bliss…

 

__________________________

 

Inspired at the Blackheath Rhododendron Festival that celebrates rhodos and azaleas every year at the start of November