#2487 -- in Kyoto, as always, longing for Kyoto

 

2487

7.295

24.x.26

in Kyoto, as always, longing for Kyoto

 

now sight first and last of all bridges

    tucked in a garden few are to see

now you’re back – at journey’s end and beginning

 

the wilding hedges and the grasses rank

little bridges out of time, cattails and sedges

this waiting the leaves to turn

 

syllabic footwork for a shout

where figures of the past pour forth

and will tomorrow too

 

a twist and a toss – pompoms on poles

scattered applause, call that matsuri

to every side a bow

 

children in bright caps at the palace

and all other ages pass by

a room of tigers and a room of cranes

 

the cherry blossom room, the gold chrysanthemum lintel

a courtier’s gravel crunch, palanquin on call

the name of a tree for which one weeps

 

doors behind gates behind

a sky processional shows through

but just now open, here at heaven’s whim  

 

the emperor is dreaming

as will a cloud we must not wake

clouds waiting permission to rain