ODYSSEY
I have returned to Japan after thirty years
Since our youngest daughter made her way
To complete in Osaka her BU college degree.
Her father was still jogging every day.
Life and the rice fields were still green.
On this fall visit to Japan I plead
For some relief from grief. I ask
The gracious Buddha for heart’s ease.
And as the strenuous swift days pass
Through alien and exotic scenes,
I sense a slowly growing distance
Between my sweet lost loves and me,
A moat of separation from the past.
Though no less dear their features be,
I stand outside the looking glass
Between what is and what can never be,
Between acceptance and a world of pain,
And lightening my dark misery
I feel a welcome sense of peace.
The rice stalks now are drying in the fields.
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