This poem was written by Adrian Thirkell in 2018, after Adrian came across my Japanese Cherry Blossom painting online. I’ve never met Adrian, yet he offered his art freely, and kindly agreed I could share it with you. His offer slipped my mind, until I got one of those ‘One year ago’ memory jogger thingies from Facebook yesterday. Finally, a year after it was written, and coincidentally on the Spring Equinox of 2019 – here it is.
The morning tree is hung, profuse, in blossom.
Speaks from every budding flower
Of how, notwithstanding that a vial of poison
May leech us of our love, turn all things sour,
We may find ourselves again renewed,
And from each cast of air strewn light
Absorb upon the skin, then through and through,
The means to our own blossoming, and free of blight.
And then we wake to more transcendent mood;
Each bloom, unfettered, calls the spirit up.
To speak, we make emollients of every word
And every touch distills the petals’ sap.
If you would like to own a copy of the picture which inspired the poem, it is available on Etsy as a signed numbered limited edition A4 print, as an A5 print, and as a greeting card. Thanks in advance for your support.