tanka – Unspoken Politics

Tanka: winter leaves

Once green and verdant,
winter leaves sit and decay
methodically
on mud-caked concrete, gazing
up at their former glory

Beyond knee-high grass
onward to the Laughing Tree
dancing with joyful
autumn colors, ablaze, even
though few ever came to watch

The coast is now sea
honeymooner footprints gone
the special sand lays
among coral, brilliant white
where fish swim in the moonlight

The gleaming crystal
melts into a glimmering
puddle, then rises
transcendent, into frigid
clouds, born again, a snowflake.

The blades of grass grow

tall and brazen, until their

height becomes burden;

emerald once-proud tips sag

towards the dark loam whence they came.

Nature is a vast

allegory, where cycles

in hidden rhythm

tell an alert listener

all they ever need to know.

There is nothing but

Peace when the lotus blossoms

open and capture

men’s souls in their beauty. Soft

pink petals withstand all ill.

In December the

recreant sun cedes the sky

to dark, grieving clouds

each tear turned to wind-lofted

snow, that laughs despite the gloom.

The hot flash of shame

makes your self feel like an iron

weight, but thankfully

in due time, all mistakes fade

into the encroaching gray.

The latent ardor

flows through a waiting woman.

The frost-kissed meadow-

where when blossoms reigned she held

the one. Inamorata.