by Christine Joseph
All pieces are untitled, but numbered.
(1)
Listen intently fo the crow,
guide you, he will, to the
cold arms of Fuji-san, over the
water's surface & through the snow,
up the steep slope,
and he will leave you at the
summit--
to find your own path down.
(2)
Powder blue above
white rock, green trees and ocean
all blend together
(3)
The trees call to you, O Master
to cease making war
and return to nature's majesty.
They call for your
unconditional surrender
and wish to return to peaceful ways
before our ancestors' spirits.
The mountain calls to you
"Live as one with me and
we shall survive into eternity."
The king shunned his priest
destroying the old ways with
fire and sword, blood and greed
and the trees and the mountains
rebelled
with a willful breeze and
shift in his path
nature return to its majesty
alone.
(4)
Which path shall I take?
If I go left, I may fall;
if I go right, I may drown.
Yet there you are, covered in white
with clouds forming around to
veil you.
So close, yet so far away
too far to reach your summit.
Will you reveal a path for me
so that we may meet face to face?
Or will you hide behind your veil
and let me perish?
Answer me! And I shall reply.
(5)
Breath
slowly forming
disappears like a cloud
misting into blue skies
Breadth
body concealed
by pure, virgin snow
untouched, unscaled
waiting for season's change
Ridges
turn to black
as shadows pass over head
softening the hardness
time has brought to light.
Riches
surrounded slopes
of verdant trees from which
all life begins,
and so it begins.