Reflections in Bonsai: Eighty-Seven

1. False false twilight,
false false night,
false false dreams;
true true solitude.

2. Father does not return
home,
yet the child returns
to the threshold.

3. Only after the cat screams
does the bird begin to sing.

4. All day long
I carry the weight
of that necklace
I have never worn.

5. Going to pluck flowers
I stumble over the past
and bleed.

6. The wish-fulfilling tree;
from branch to branch
on gossamer threads
peace hangs suspended.

7. What I do...is it simple?
Then show me how!

8. In this hand she placed her hand;
so all sorrow fled!

9. Beneath this skin
in the river of words
fire burns.

10. To heal the wound
even now...she
listens to winter's tale.

11. By the canal's edge...
every tree bears
a neighbor's touch.

12. In the lightest storm
the seaside lamps
kindle at sunrise.

13. In moonlight
beneath the skin
darkness takes a plunge!

14. Wind upon wind
carries particles of tender grass
to the old man's
time of homecoming.

15. In the abandoned house
the clock still strikes
twelve...at high noon.

16. On the unused road
the roots gradually
surface.

17. In the trap of leisure
on the girl's chin
a crimson glow...
at the gentle wind's nudge.

18. Fierce current;
to hold myself back now
would be sin!

19. Even in the current's wound—
clinging to stone
the snail meditates.

20. In grandmother's kitchen
in an old cup
the wanderer's tale.