Sakura

Should I this simple sight
describe to folk?
Cherry blossoms
plucked by hand
Would be taken as a gift


--Sosei

 

 

These cherries must bloom

with the same scent and color

as in days gone by, 

and indeed what changes is

people who age with the years

--Ki no Tomonori

 

If I may

I wish to die

under the cherry blossoms in spring

just around the full moon

in April

--Saigyo

 

 

I love cherry blossoms.  I mean really, really love them.  Kurt used the word passionate recently in describing my great love of cherry blossoms.  He said he can tell that they are up there with my kids and NYC in my heart of hearts.  And they are.  

When I was living in Japan, my Japanese friends taught me that the sakura season is special because every year you experience one means there is one less time in your life that you'll do so, and you never know how many more seasons you'll be around for and blessed to enjoy.  The ephemeral quality of the delicate blossoms and the ephemeral quality of life itself.  Just thinking of that can bring tears to my eyes.

This year the tears flowed as I visited the cherry blossoms in DC.  Tears of joy and wonder to be surrounded by such beauty.  Tears for Japan and the tragic loss and suffering the Japanese people have endured since the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.  Tears knowing that this could be the last time that I'll ever get to see my beloved cherry blossoms, and that I won't get to share this experience anymore with my children.  Tears of gratitude to have this moment, knowing it could be my last, trying to imprint the images in my mind's eye and in my heart.  It was one of the most beautifully bittersweet days of my life.