Diptych with Window View & Hiroshige Print

No tree vaulting high that I could see

possessed a perfectly straight trunk.

A geisha follows a trail of paper lanterns.

Yellow leaves had been blown off,

leaving black branches.

Stars in water a match for the sky.

A windless night, and all clear.

Something was coming, the wind a portent.

A red petticoat peaked out from under her coat.

Deer hid and wild turkeys latched onto a roost.

Near the hill’s foot, a shrine and brightly lit restaurants.

Solitary means to turn in

on yourself, a whelk, and no escape.

A cropped lantern, a cropped cherry tree, and still she walks

in dignity, with purpose.

The gusts came from the east,

blowing saplings in half.

Behind her, the Sumida River, a sky of stars,

stars in the river, and beyond, a black hill.