Sakura Hanami

Posted on Categories Poetry

Cherry blossom viewing for High Park in Toronto, Ontario:

watching for blossoms

glimpses of cherry pink sky

a spring tradition

I lived in Toronto for over 30 years and was not aware of the cherry tree groves in High Park. For one to two weeks a year the imported cherry trees offer an opportunity to stroll in a wonderland of blossoms. I hope to view them this year if weather and plans align.

Blossom enthusiasts can enjoy first blossoms, peak blossoms and late blossoms. This week’s Haikai Challenge features late cherry blossoms, which gave me an ‘excuse’ to explore cherry blossom viewing near where I live.

In honour of late cherry blossoms I wrote this short haibun:

When I was much younger I was afraid of growing ‘old’. Only now do I fully appreciate how young I was when haunted by these fears. Passage of time and physical decline have shown me the ephemeral nature of beauty…youth…pleasures lived and remembered. Exquisite blossoms splash my life with fresh beauty every spring only to fade to wilted memories, reminders of impermanence.

late blossoms

drifting into open hands

many moonrises

~

©️2018 Ontheland

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Published by Janice

My name is Janice.  I started blogging as Ontheland when I moved from Toronto to a rural area near Kingston, Ontario in Canada.  Over time I have found myself writing poetry, mostly in Japanese forms, such as haiku and haibun.  One of my deepest interests is the natural world: the joy of it and how we can look after it better.

13 thoughts on “Sakura Hanami”

  4. Pingback: #Haikai Challenge #32 (5/5/18): twittering (saezuri,) #haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga – Frank J. Tassone

  7. This has an ethereal quality – like when I am walking in my neighborhood and being showered with those gentle falling petals… I hope you get to or got to enjoy the cherry blossoms. 🙂

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