Today, I stopped
to lie beneath the cherry blossoms.
Really, I should say
‘between’ them.
I gazed upward
at the white and pink petals
coating dark branches in their beauty,
while those petals dearly-departed
provided a soft and sweet bed
upon the grass.
As I breathed deeply
and emptied my mind,
I began to feel as though—
if I laid there long enough—
I may melt into the ground.
With time, I may simply
grow down.
And indeed,
I would.
And for a moment,
I did.
I left my ‘self’
and became
the bed of blossoms.
I wonder about those
who speak of the hopelessness
of a life without
an afterlife
in another world.
And I wonder why
anyone would want
to leave this world.
While there is much pain
that we have created,
still there is more beauty
than we could hope to see
in our lifetimes.
As I lay silently,
breathing in the universe,
one petal came floating down
and landed softly on my cheek.
All at once, I felt
its silky softness, and
the weight of the world.
When my atoms scatter
for the final time,
I hope that some
will find their way
to a budding cherry blossom.
