Not Ice Age Nor Hellfires Could Destroy the Astonishing Ginkgo
A Poem
Published in
1 min readSep 4, 2022
Translucent flares of soft gold cascade
down from branches up again
midair, swaying on invisible hammocks,
sashaying moves beguile
Summer ends with a swirling breeze
in the land of poets and ginkgo trees
Prehistory ginkgo birthed, dodged glaciers deep
in central China — fellow plants extinct
Survived hellish Kanto fire, outlived
Hiroshima bomb¹ where nothing grew for years
Twenty/forty autumns no harvests from new trees
Will it bear fruit in peace?
Why do you doubt nature’s triumph, faithless humans?
Ginkgo your kin is stardust² seed on fire feeds
Trudges are preludes to satisfaction deep
Autumn is your true glory
Drop your greying worldly worries
All seasons decree autumn holds the keys
