The beach was still and silent.

Even the birds had found new playgrounds this winter,

A desert landscape with only our footprints to bear,

And yours were heavier than mine.


We ran and ran and felt like we got nowhere.

Couldn't dent that stretch of land no matter how hard we tried,

I lied and told you I hadn't been there before,

Lying to you never felt right.


And when the new sand blew,

It covered up our sins white lies and false apologies.

A clean slate and those things didn't matter anymore,

It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw.

Everything happens at once. The mixing
of blue-green dropping white on cold brown rocks,
a maelstrom of water sounds affixing
themselves to fine hovering mist which talks
pouring and pounding to the surroundings,
flat river interrupted; sculpted liquid
fluctuations arising / collapsing
ever-changing life depicted in mid—
crest: trough, tribulation, swirl and foam,
scented moisture feels soft over the jagged
undercurrent. A fish jumps. Water carves stone.
We are released: through spray the river flows,
exiting the eddy and peacefully home.

The red waves of an azalean sea,
Foaming in crimson and pink and ruby,
Break on the soft green grass shore before me,
Behind them / Looming / Snow capped / Mount Fuji,
Oh, how much I wish right now to be,
Surrounded by these florid waters,
To swim into the painted scene and see,
To exist as colours—in eternity.

Three poplars grow along the river bank,
Three poplars reflected in the current,
Past is paint and the future is a blank
Canvas framed with poplar wood recurrent,
Reeds sway silently,
Tree trunks climb crooked,
Colors blur like smoky clouds unfurling
Colors blurring cloudy smoke rings spread
Across a pastel sky. Autumnal swirl
in kingly golden glow—presages:
Brush be quick / the sun dips / the light changes
Capture it before it rearranges!

The luminous grey undersides of clouds
Travelling a charcoal sky, speak my thoughts aloud
As thunder
                    Reflections of my mind's wandering eye

Those who don't go with the wind
Will be shaped by it
Their blood will be waves
Their minds will be canyons
They will be shaped to a fertile and forgiving landscape
So that those who get carried by the wind
Will have a safe place to land