Two Trees Poem by Suzanne Hayasaki

I stood between two trees,
Each wreathed in paper streamers,
Marking them as sacred
In the Shinto tradition.

I closed my eyes and opened my mind.
I breathed, slowly, deeply
Exhaling my messy energy and
Inhaling the pure emptiness
Of Nature's wordless wisdom.

For a moment, I let my mind go quiet
And let my ears hear the solace of Spring.

Winter still lingers.
Mourning still rests heavily,
Mingled with memories
Of phone calls and laughter
And what felt like a final benediction.

But what I also sensed
Was an acceptance
And a release
And a return to the purity of energy
From which each soul springs,
More like a brook than a birth.
We circulate from one world to another.

Like the rings of a tree,
Like waves expanding from a thrown stone
Plopping into an old pond like a frog,
Like the Big Bang,
Energy spreads outwards
From a source of love.

I choose to be love
So that I can feel the love
That vibrates through the universe
Like the eternal songs of stars.