As I whisk
the fine verdant granules
whirl and blend
into the steaming water
and a confluence of tiny bubbles
erupt onto the surface
releasing a piquant scent
and a host of mornings past.
As I whisk
the fine verdant granules
whirl and blend
into the steaming water
and a confluence of tiny bubbles
erupt onto the surface
releasing a piquant scent
and a host of mornings past.
Returning from their walk
to the muddied lake
a three-legged dog
cantered through the snow banks
by the side
of his smiling owner.
My purblind cat
lopes across the room
in the same seeing way
and heralds the eventual
hop onto my lap
with a swish of her tail.
The promise of precision
slips away
when stray thoughts
enfold themselves
into the pouring
of the emerald green liquid.
In the back of a car
she returned to me
as we both watched
a flock of starlings
pouring wordlessly
across the crimson sky.
At my parents’ home
the trees are
now bare of snow
as two squirrels scamper
along the trunk
of the ancient oak.
My morning matcha
I drink from
a different bowl.
With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few
high leaves that do not stir
as though they had not noticed
and did not know you at all
then the voice of a dove calls
from far away in itself
to the hush of the morning
so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible.
-W.S. Merwin