The Jar You Are Carrying
Full of sunlight
dipped out from a spring named hope by a mountain foot
in the jar that we bought after a long period of hesitation
at a time of making a new home
is slopping from side to side.
We roamed together in the wilderness
where so many springs came and went;
we stayed up many nights watching the flickering fireflies
in the many returning summers; we walked through numberless autumns
stepping on the heaps of fallen leaves; we wandered many winters aimlessly
in the snow covered fields;
while we went up and down
many rugged hills and rocky mountains
for more than five decades together,
and during those long and tiring years,
though the jar you are carrying bumped into not a few but many rocks and trees
by which the brim chipped off here and there and base gouged out all over,
you never think to change it for a new one.
After all,
you tripped on the stones
many times on the way of our journey,
you never spilled a drop of sun-ray
or, though sometimes it is bothersome,
you did not pour them on the ground.
However, look at me!
the knapsack I carry is beaten by
the untiring rains and winds
and torn to rags from ages of abuse,
and now, though I am an empty knapsack,
you did not abandon me but came with me,
sometimes you walked ahead and other times just following me.
I see sunlight you filled from the spring is overflowing
from that unseemly jar you are carrying;
in spring, buds and blooms of all sorts of flowers
in the field make me look back to verify your presence
and smile when I recognize you by me;
in summer, when we are lying on a tree trunk
under a shade for a moment of rest
a breath of air stops by us and tells a story
for the reason why we walk together;
in autumn, I learn the meaning of decay
through watching the leaves fall and roll
on the ground carried by a gust of wind,
nonetheless, you let me have a moment of appreciation,
you make my life worthwhile, with the flavor of fruit I bite.
Even if winter comes
unless you are not abandoning that jar,
as long as sunlight is overflowing from the jar,
though I am an empty knapsack,
I trust you that your thoughtful heart
will block the blowing wind,
your sagacity will turn snow into beautiful flowers.
Copyright © Su Ben | Year Posted 2015
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