Now
and Then
A
few weeks before
The
solstice of September –
A
warm cloudless sky
A
few yellow marigolds
In
the planter by the door
On
the wooden deck
(A
few planks need replacement)
An
abandoned book
On
the dust-covered table
A
chorus of full moon light
Falls
on broken glass
And
the gentle counterpoint
Of
scattering leaves
“I
see now I was deceived.
It
is time for you to go.”
Like
the melting snow
Often
love will slip away
Into
yesterday
Where
he used to like to play
Office
buildings have been built
The
new guy feels guilt
For
defending a client
Who
is filthy rich
Tech-support
fixed a glitch,
A
virus from who knows where?
Drifting
on the air
Great
clouds of yellow pollen
Fall
on the parked cars
“Please
give him my kind regards,
I’m
glad he will recover.”
Somewhere
or other
(Perhaps
it was just a dream)
She
is young again
Years
like waves roll by and then
There
are only a few friends
To
remember when
Cherry
blossoms always fall
In
a brisk warm wind
The
tall green grass dips and bends
By
a spring at rainbow’s end
2 comments:
On the dust-covered table
A chorus of full moon light
Falls on broken glass
And the gentle counterpoint
Of scattering leaves
For me, these lines stood in a spotlight at centre stage... the rest of the cast weren't needed...
Thanks for the feedback. I've found that Renga are like that. I mean that there are a few verses in a renga which really stand out. They even talk about this in the Japanese Renga manuals, so it seems to be a feature of the way the form is written. They talk about 'background verses'; meaning verses that form the background for the highlight verses. It's an interesting esthetic all by itself.
Jim
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