Cherries
Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
Already green leaves
where white flowers
once bloomed
each leaf
not as tender
as it was just yesterday
and more tender
than it will be
tomorrow
soon
the green leaves
will hide green cherries
soon the green cherries
will yield
red cherries
soon a darker red
will be staining
a dark ground
and the lips
of young children
and also their young parents
before
again fading
and falling completely
it is harder
to remember
the ripe cherries in winter
branches forlorn
facing
a bare sky
but even then
it is true it is
more than true
each bare branch
already
a ripe cherry
Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma is an author, translator, teacher, and performer. His translation of the classical Tamil masterpiece on ethics, power, and love, The Kural: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural, was published to great acclaim by Beacon Press. Other books include The Safety of Edges (poems), Give, Eat, and Live: Poems of Avvaiyar (translated from the Tamil) and Body and Earth (with the artist C.F. John). He speaks and performs widely, mentors writers and translators one-on-one, teaches for the Cozy Grammar series of online video courses, and has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, 4Culture, Artist Trust, and the U. S. Fulbright Program.
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