A Thousand Voices

Saint Paul, 30 May 2005

A typhoon relents

The ascent of a vernal bough

As a mourning dove departs

Evening cedes a leeward moon

A thousand voices beget a

Thousand whispers

Yakusugi’s canopy

Sentinel for centuries

Table and chairs of antiquity

Notes:

The Yakusugi is a venerable species of cedar tree that has thrived for millennia

on Yakushima Island off the south coast of Japan’s southern-most region of Kyusyu.

Many Sugi on the island are believed to be several thousands of years old.