Some haiku and poems that have been on my mind as we made and shared the film.
Even more wonderful as they fall, the cherry blossoms.
Does anything last in this grievous world?
- Anonymous, Tales of Ise
The owner of the cherry blossoms
turns to compost
for the trees.
- Utsu’s death poem
At cherry blossom parties in this keep
Old pines caught the new light of the moon
And cast it glittering over the sake cup;
How can such brilliance have passed so soon?
- Doi Bansui
a lovely spring night
suddenly vanished while we
viewed cherry blossoms
- Basho
As we turn the corners of the narrow road to the deep north, we may soar with exhilaration, or we may fall flat on our faces, doubled up by the suffering in our hearts.
- from the epilog to “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” by Basho
Even if the cherry blossoms bloom,
ours is a world of suffering.
- Issa
our two lives:
between them has lived
this blossoming cherry
- Basho
Joyous things happen
Sad things happen
Grass grows
- Santoka
I want to do to you what spring does with the cherry trees
- Pablo Neruda
They can cut all the flowers but they can’t hold back the spring
- Pablo Neruda
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
