Spring Approaches

Her body, blessed

Streams are her hair- cool peaks

Clouds cloud not bright rays

Author’s note:

When I first began considering what about mountains inspire me, I was honestly surprised by how many things I could think of. Unless one lives in a mountainous region I’m not sure how often one truly thinks about them.

I found that its height was what my mind first jumped to in regards to being inspired by them. Thinking more, I found myself admiring how unchanging they are compared to almost everything else around them.

I also thought about how mountains can be used as metaphors. E.g. At the top of the mountain the world looks and feels different than it did at its base. Same goes for human achievement, often success looks/feels different than one imagined even if it’s not a bad difference.

From there I found my mind drawn back to the idea of how untouched by humans and private mountains are/can be.

Ultimately, I chose to focus on the changing of the seasons as is traditional of classic Japanese Haiku. In following traditional Japanese rhetoric for Haiku I did my best to replicate the kireji (cutting word) with punctuation, in the form of an em dash.

Please enjoy and thank you for being a Reader!