Rudraksha

(After Rumi)  
 
Tamar visits the East  
Garden, Spring Fire Yellow  
Where the warm sun rises  
Contemplating his gift
For a season neither  
Believe in except for
What most matters.
Rudraksha beads rolling  
Between her fingertips,
She gazes into the South  
Lake, Summer Water Blue  
Where the warmth flows,  
Sees his face, drifts  
Into the moss below.  
 
A cold wind blows, North  
Autumn Earth Red descends  
On the back of a pyre leaf  
Disrupting his pooled  
Image. She rolls onto  
Her side, Faces Orion  
Ascending. What, she asks,  
Shall I gift the West,  
Winter Air White where  
Crown point mountains  
Surround river gorges  
Separating time from  
Hemispheres in moments  
To be remembered as this.  
 
A mirror, said the constellation  
His likeness won’t let him forget  
Despite how many lives he lives.  
~