Tranquil Tokonoma
One thing a perfect purple rose cannot
Accomplish is a type of sadness. Man
Is best at that. That is mankind’s special blot.
The plants and animals have learned to ban
Such uselessness. They settle in their fur
Or leaves and just get on with life and death.
Yet men and women, children, all concur
That they should seek out sorrow with their breath
Whenever possible. Within rice walls
A cross-legged man caresses sadness from
His heart. Chrysanthemum’s pure white appals
His sense that he should turn the blossom glum.
The bloom resists this silliness. It waits
There never contemplating wilted fates.
~ Phillip Whidden
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2024 | CH, CO, ME, TO |