Anticipation

From my desk, I look out of the window and see the ornamental cherry tree, sunlight flickering through branches studded with shiny buds, reddish-brown splashed with pale green. A brisk wind shakes them, as if telling them to just get on with it.

Every year is the same:  I hold my breath, waiting for the buds to burst and pink blossoms to illuminate this corner of the garden. But, as with everything in nature, they open at a different time each year, never the same day.

And they never last long. Spring showers and winds along the North Norfolk coast strip them from the branches after a week or so and toss them across the garden. Only pale green leaves are left, and the knowledge that there will be no fruit.

anticipation
waiting for brown buds to burst
petalled promises

Kim M. Russell, 29th March 2021

Our tree in all its glory from a previous year

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Haibun Monday: Cherry Blossoms

Frank is our host for this Monday’s haibun, with its blend of prose-poetry and haiku. As spring is underway, he invites us to  embrace a traditional spring kigo: cherry blossoms.

Frank reminds us that viewing cherry blossoms (hanami) evolved as an important cultural ritual in Japan, and poets from the Heian era wrote many waka (tanka) that alluded to the blossoms. Basho continued this tradition in both his haiku and haibun writing, and other haiku poets followed his lead. He has shared haiku by Issa, Basho and Buson.

39 thoughts on “Anticipation”

  2. That photo what a beauty! This line so mournful:
    “Only pale green leaves are left, and the knowledge that there will be no fruit.”
    Oh how I hope the wind and rain are kind to the blossoms this year.

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  6. I’ve seen few fruit-bearing cherry trees, but many ornamental cherry trees, which are beautiful in their own right. My favorites are the large, black bing cherries for snacking, but the sweet red cherries for pies. This challenge has my hankering for cherry pie as I write this!!!

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  10. We’re on the same plain this week, KR, more or less, though I don’t have much of this beauty just outside my window. I think their scarcity makes them just that much more appealing. Haibunilicious!

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    1. Thank you, Pat. It’s right outside my window, so I can’t miss it! It is also embraced by the honeysuckle that grows on a trellis next to it; and they usually bloom together. 😉

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