Leonardo Poetry Prize 2014: Cherry Blossom

The Year 8 Leonardo Prize for Poetry 2014 was awarded to Juka Flint for 'Cherry Blossom':


source: Tokyo Times

The cherry blossom fell around me
The petals like misguided butterflies
Spiralling towards the ground
In a pink flurry of chaos.

My horse's feet pounded along the packed earth
The pink carpet beneath me flying past
As omen to the city ahead.
The gnarled trees lined the road ahead
Bowed with the weight of their cherry pink burden.

The air blew in sluggish warm gusts
Lazily stirring the lifeless bloom
Settling down to reveal a city
Kyoto of feudal Japan.

Temples of gold and silver sat
Watched over by the gods they worshipped,
The bustling streets alive with the people they held
Laden with the pink-flowered trees
That acted as my sole guide.

The Shogun's palace loomed ahead
The sealed letter in my hand a reminder of my task. 

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