ONE OF THEM IS YOU

The willows wept in graceful sorrow
the day our worlds changed.

Although the door
seemed closed to me forever,
it magically opened again
as I crossed the sea to Japan
to enter the Torii gates
of mystery and wonderment
that, until now, exisited
only in the garden
of our dreams.

I see you everywhere
and nowhere.

In the vast gardens
of pines and maple trees
dotted by peonies and azelas.

Amist the bamboo forest
sculpted in filtered sunlight.

On the volatile crown of Mount Fuji
temporarily frozen in time.

In the elegant voice of a geisha's walk
down the streets of Gion
on her way to perform
in a Kyoto festival
to celebrate the rites of spring.

You are the perfect precision of a Zen garden.
The calm of eternity unaffected
by the change of seasons.
Designed by an artist,
brush strokes were restyled
to become three-dimensional,
like the journey through your life.

For you,
master of your own mind and body,
nothing ever remained constant
except for the change
of constant motion
and the motion
of constant change.

According to local folklore
and the dust of destiny,
like the revered 1001 standing images
of Buddha in the temple...

one of them is you.

© JOHN PISCATELLA