Where Colorlessness Comes From

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

The silence comes as

The maple or chestnut leaf

Sinks through pond water.

~ Shôhaku, Englished by Phillip Whidden

A red and yellow maple leaf sinks down

In water clearer than the last of dawns.

The color of the pond is like the gown

Eternity puts on in see-through bronze

Athena wears in war.  The red glows clear,

As clear as Jesus’ blood in spirit minds

When contemplating innocence, goes clear

Because those thoughts destroy the would-be blinds

Of time.  The yellow is the color of

An angel’s hair more clean and blond than light

In Eden as the serpent hangs above

A Garbo Eve before the world learned blight.

  The depths within the pond refuse to let

    The light go dim because of zircon threat.

© Phillip Whidden