The Walk to Work

A Poem by Missie Moon

Follow along the river
Where a month ago
Sakura bloomed along the banks
And today the water
Under the bridge is choked
With thick green weeds
Dotted with white flowers like
The spectral remains of the cherry
Blossoms that floated down river now
Submerged and ghostly
Growing like a miracle
Beneath the surface.

At the top of the hill
A two-foxed shrine
Where I incline my head
Coming and going
And then a line of trees
Under which, on a damper day,
I saw a crow's feather
Glistening with replete rain drops
But the weather is fine
And elderly men and women
Fill nearby tennis courts
They have no need to
Rush on to work.

A train crosses the tracks
As cars bicycles strollers and I
Build up impatiently
And flood out
As the barriers lift.

Left right left
Up three flights of stairs
Through the heavy office door
The world outside retreats
Until the path
Leads me home again.