Komorebi

 

(Komorebi - Japanese word for sunlight, which is filtered through the leaves of the trees)

 

If you ever feel disheartened

Or remorseful

From the breakers

In the highway of Life,

Come walk with me –

I will perhaps persuade you

To discard your asphalt dreams

And walk instead

On bare earth -

Soft, grassy, velvety,

Cooled with

The melancholy dewdrops of night

Where you will rediscover a newfound breath

And we will walk silently

Under the graceful whisper of the leaves

Where time slows,

Where Dreams care to wait

And life heals

 

There, I will show you -

Despite the heady sunlight of noon

The refreshing shadows

Under the pines,

And their fragrance of restoration -

You will begin to notice

The dappled shadows

And their joyful play in the wind –

None of them pure

But all greyed with

The intrusion of light -

Ah! Penumbral joy

Komorebi

Will you understand

The harshness of a direct sunlight

Melts us all?

For we are souls of somnolent dreams

That love the soft shade of shadows

 

Perhaps, at the avenue’s end,

You will understand

The spangled sentinels that are

These illuminated shadows

That guard us from

The burns of a cloudless sky;

Likewise, on the motorways of everyday,

Slowing down is redeemed

In those bends of life

Where we need to preserve ourselves

So we can expand

To consume the cosmos

When the time comes.

Until then,

Take your time

Watch the dappled shadows on bare feet,

Ignore the throttle, and smell instead

The joy of komorebi…

 

21^st July, 2024