Below are some verses I wrote recently for Japanese friends on the anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake:
Takedake
The pristine elegance
of hollow reeds
Carved with patience
by loving hands
Within focus
he resonates
a distant world
Ichi on jobutsu
-David Hebert
For Koji, on the one-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake.
To Heroism
The lengthiest epic
could never contain
Multitude gratitudes
seem merely stoic
All virtues are summed
in one small refrain:
“Hiro is simply heroic!”
-David Hebert
For Hiro, on the one-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake.
Disorienting Distance
Beside Kamogawa was the heaven I lost
While a young dreamer bursting ambition
Whirling about years across dizzying world
Pressing each drop of joy from this persimmon
Hazarding the very deepest and gentlest of souls
Muriko means hopeless girl, but I dropped her hope
Like a broken spade
in our garden with no chrysanthemums
Disorienting distance takes its toll
leaving no final refuge
Such is the cost to cross the Kamogawa they say
Even for the boldest and noblest of companions
Even the truest and kindest of friends
Sages warn hell revolves on the other side
-David Hebert
For Mitsuko, on the one-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake.
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