Tending, clearing

According to the Chinese lunisolar calendar, between now and the late April rains one should tend to the graves of one’s ancestors. This period goes by the name 清明, or qīngmíng, and the weeks are designated “clear and bright.”

In my part of the world, we experience a mix of rainy and clear; but the days are warming and the grass greener. The annual winter weeds pull up easily, and the tough perennial weeds emerge before the grasses. The moist, newly-thawed soil makes levering those weeds less difficult now than later in the year.

I, however, do not live anywhere near my ancestors’ graves.

~

Clearing

Clear the patch that yields

to memory

clutch the hand hoe

and the trowel

disturbing early spring’s

small bees and gnats

beneath the plum’s

blossoming branches

Weeds encroach here

grasses grown too high

a nearby stone

toppled and broken

tells us about

forgetfulness

Insects surround

the quiet morning

active each year as warmth

moves into earth

the newt that curls

under last year’s leaf

finds sustenance

As do we

in our earnest effort

clearing as skies clear

each handful of chickweed

representing thanks

to those whose efforts

and accidents

brought us into

the world

~

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photo by David Sloan