She Sips a Cup Of Gold Thread Tea

Poetry jam

Photo by Lily Miller on Unsplash

Long after the season
of the fifth month rain
when the morning cloudiness
greets the days, it’s time
for the Festival of Returning Spirits
to honor those who are traveling home.

Silver salmon heed the signal
of the fire on the meadow
in the headland and flutter upstream.
The willows on the banks
stand in witness to the miracle
of their breath and the
rhythm of their return.

Crickets chirp near the paper birch
as the evening-clear cicada listen
to the voice of the reeds in the cattails.
They signal the time of returning geese
at this ending of the short nights.

Fallen ears of rice in the fields
intertwine with graceful
grass blossoms in a deep
conversation with
a blue-water wind.

A long sigh of sleep
falls from shaking leaves,
trees relinquish their hold
on their plumage…