*After Life*

While we worry about Heaven and Hell,
we don’t see that the after isn’t what happens to us,
but what we create while we live.

Our Heaven, our Hell
is what others think of us,
how we are remembered after life.

Others will put us where we belong.
Whether they remember us fondly or not.
Heaven and Hell are not ours to achieve
but a gift to us after we’ve been and gone,
until we are forgotten.

*Basho’s Garden*

Blossoms of cherry,
then apple, then peach, then pear,
snow down on Basho.

Basho grafts, trims and
hopefully, Basho harvests.
All works of his love.

And then there was fruit,
fruit in abundance;
All which Basho shares.

*Elders*

We used to look to our elders
for wisdom.

We didn’t depend on rote
for beliefs.

We used to search and ponder
looking for answers.

And we were enlightened
in our naiveté.

Just having a voice though
is not wisdom.

*Gifts*

It was a gift
to hear the hollow thump
of rain on corn leaves.

Or was the gift
to realize that i had heard
that sound?

It only took seventy years to hear.
Now i’m staring at clouds
to learn to see.