88. Cherry Blossoms (Toi Derricotte)

Más un haiku de Issa y uno mío

El esperado anuncio oficial: “DC’s cherry blossoms have reached peak bloom.”

Nueva Orleans tiene “Mardi Gras”, Los Angeles tiene “Coachella”, Punxsutawney tiene “el día de la marmota” y Washington DC tiene el “Cherry Blossoms festival”. Para el caos político que es DC, me emociona que este sea “nuestro festival”.

Es un sitio al que le viene bien el haiku de Issa: “Under the cherry blossoms / strangers are not / really strangers”

He estado casi todo el día en la biblioteca, trabajando en una traducción. Al salir, me sorprendieron los cerezos y las tres monjas, que lucen todo el año como cerezos en flor.

Me inspiraron a escribir un haiku en inglés:

Three little petals
under the cherry blossoms
tripling their beauty.

Viewing Cherry Blossoms in the Inner Precincts of the Temple at Asakusa (1857) Utagawa Kunisato

CHERRY BLOSSOMS
Toi Derricotte

I went down to
mingle my breath
with the breath
of the cherry blossoms.

There were photographers:
Mothers arranging their
children against
gnarled old trees;
a couple, hugging,
asks a passerby
to snap them
like that,
so that their love
will always be caught
between two friendships:
ours & the friendship
of the cherry trees.

Oh Cherry,
why can’t my poems
be as beautiful?

A young woman in a fur-trimmed
coat sets a card table
with linens, candles,
a picnic basket & wine.
A father tips
a boy’s wheelchair back
so he can gaze
up at a branched
heaven.
                     All around us
the blossoms
flurry down
whispering,

        Be patient
you have an ancient beauty.

                                            Be patient,
                                  you have an ancient beauty.