! ! She Thought Of Plum-Blossom; Touched The Strings Poem by Michael Shepherd

Posted: Mon Mar 02,2009 1: 34 pm Post subject:

--------------------

She thought of plum blossom, touched the strings


Smiling gently in her mind
this mid-winter morning
at the thought of Spring

she wraps herself in padded cotton kimono,
tiptoes through the snow
to the plum tree;

touches so gently tips of twigs
where the buds, too,
warm at the thought of spring;

then bends down, parts the snow
so carefully,
where the shoots of crocus
will soon pull aside the snowy duvet;
stretch; look coyly at the sun;

returns in her own footsteps in the snow;
takes up the shamisen,
touches the strings; is about to sing;
instead she smiles; almost sighs, like a lover,
black almonds in the corner of her eyes;

sounds of shamisen
can be heard in the garden
this winter morning.