Is nothing like the dawning of the day?

Or cherry trees, their blooming boughs aloft

To catch the breeze before it blows away

Their petals flutter, falling pink and soft

The ripples drifting in the silent lake

The cypress perched above the wild sea

Don’t think of how the very ground may shake

Why would they, having immortality?

The doe who lifts her head from morning sage

The stars that shoot across the midnight sky

Seem from another world, another age

But really we’re the trav’lers passing by

So while our time may hasten, ever brief

More reason to attend each bird and leaf