I’d walked this trail dozens of times. Never had I seen water run along this rock cliff. The snow had melted.

She said,

Looking at me

As if all my troubles

Were a greasy paper towel

That sooner or later she’d pick up and throw in the trash,

“You could build a temple with a broken bowl–

If you’d just stop moping.

Go to the mountain–

The plums are still in bloom there.”

Take deep breaths, she said.

Walk the cedar mountain trail.

See what the light hits.

“Open up your eyes now/Tell me what you see/It is no surprise now/what you see is me.”

Special thanks to my two delightful hiking companions–and to the man who’d given me the dried persimmon a few weeks back, who was kind enough to be sitting on a bench beside the trail (sunbathing), thus giving me a chance to repay him with a humble chocolate-covered macadamia nut. He’d only take one!