Haibun: Another World

Bottle-bush trees, with red blooms, where bees hum and hummingbirds chitter; tall maples, all in green, where parrots and crows perch on high to look out;

birch trees with dead branches that dangle over white roses; shaggy eucalyptus trees with long slender leaves, on the other side of the fence, that spread their scent over me; pink hibiscus flowers, glimmering in the light, that open like paradise:

who planted all of you here? Like ghosts, like guardians from another world. I count you among my friends, who are also among the living and the dead.

a little black dog beside the massive tree roots youth, old age, and Time

October Amber Ridge & Bonelli Regional Park