...the very motion of our life is towards happiness.
H H the Dalai Lama

Watch the madrona
drop leaves
and shed bark
in the driveway,
careless of where it
deposits its castings.

Do we know
if the tree knows
happiness
or even recognizes
the seasons change?

Does it matter?
The tree is still there,
shelter for other life,
the road still littered,
work in spring.

..............................................................................
sems nang - roughly, within the mind, where sems may encompass more than the mind (Published in MAP)

Gary Blankenship is a sometime poet, editor and judge from Bremerton WA, USA, who is much too fond of poetic series based upon whatever crosses his path. He is the author of A River Transformed poetry based on Wang Wei’s River Wang poems and available at http://www.lulu.com/content/178110.

Other three poems by Gary Blankenship in this issue