06/09/2011

Masaki Kobayashi's nightmare

This garden
by the sea
has a temple in it.
Overhead, a
single
white cloud.
Pure light
pouring down;
Trees lit
with drops
of rain.
In this temple,
a manuscript.
A parchment of old,
worn characters
telling of battles past,
with ash on it.
Stories tell of the clash
of ships
and the end of
an Emperor.
The shoreline
is littered with crabs
(they say)
that bear the faces
of the warring dead.
Can you see their ghosts
in the thick of night?
No matter.
March is a cruel month.
The salt of ocean
bears the trace
of radioactive waste
for years to come.

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