They’re about the sappiest couple I’ve ever met, that young man and woman who like to call themselves, collectively, “Shizuoka Duo.”
A couple of love birds. Always smiling.
So there they were, back from a hike up through the Ryuso cedars, still holding hands, still glowing, saying they’d hummed out a song together, la-la-lahed it out as they walked through the woods (“our” woods, they said, “we were the only ones up there”), standing at my front door, asking if I could pull the Persimmon Dreams recording studio out from my pocket and record them.
What was I going to do? Whatever I think of their singing, well, they were awful cute standing there.
I . . . love to see you
Smile . . . smile like you do
Your eyes . . . always say . . . something so true.
We . . . walk cedar shade
Above our heads . . . sparkling jade
Canopy light . . . really knows . . . . how to persuade.
Needles soft . . . under our feet
Azaleas bright . . . dancing so sweet
Nightingale . . . melody . . . oh what a treat.
Sometimes . . . we do kneel
Moist green moss . . . our fingers feel
These woods . . . now just ours . . . cool and tranquil.
I . . . love to see you
Smile . . . smile like you do
Your eyes . . . always say . . . something so true.
(Photos, as best I remember, from recent climbs up Yambushi, Hakkorei, Bara-no-dan, and Ryuso.)
