Chesed She b’Tiferet*
Every rule of life proclaims a quickening final collapse.
The rule of beauty demands its own disappearance
precisely when we move to possess
what cannot be grasped. 

Tulips opening their cups of joy expose black and golden
throats to dawn’s penetrating light.  First rain,
then heat, then wrinkled cascades of falling petals
all our fragile days. 

In the meantime love pulses heart’s rhythm
through our reaching limbs to help us keep our balance. 
Yesterday, digging muddy ground, planting and transplanting,
I studied what earth teaches.  I listened to

falling water pattering the histories of rising heat and wind. 
As we gaze entranced at beauty, let us understand
this spring’s weeping cherry’s pink-blossomed shawl.
so thickly woven, might be her last. 

Help us honor the ancient songs that do not change, rushing
at daybreak through the throats of guardian birds
even as death stalks the uplands and down,
the wet and dry. 

Love’s mystery sings through  us each time we wake. 
What a marvel! This fleeting life, so nakedly balanced
with every stepping breath we take.
                                                 5/5/2019
         *Loving Kindness within Balanced Harmonic Beauty