A Cherry Blossom

   No bigger than a thumbnail
      Yet a world;
   Five petals like lawn, as white
As milkmaids’ aprons at the pail,                                 
   Glanced by the morning light
      For work unfurled.

      Yolk-topped stamens

   Like skinny saffron Brahmins
Adore their goddess pistil which looms,
   Greengage-hued, pad-headed,
   That the powdered bee be bedded
      Before it homes.

   Ah, faint as memory,

      Its scent but felt,
      Like a rain-rinsed sky
   Or sleeping child’s skin,
   Pale as a night star fading,
Seen not-seen, smelt not-smelt.

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© April 2015