Momento Mori (After Tu Fu)
It is peaceful to rest in my garden.
To sit among the lilies,
the hollyhocks and hibiscus.
But their leaves have already hardened,
as shadows drift over the roses
as soft as the purest incense,
as dead as an old man’s wishes.
The robins’ nest is empty.
They’re seeking kinder weather.
Winter will soon arrive.
One maple leaf clings to the branches,
but it will eventually go,
smothered in ice and snow.
Death swiftly changes things.
The leaves don’t know.
Is it better to know?
George Freek is a poet/playwright living in Belvidere, IL. His plays are published by Playscripts and Lazy Bee Plays. His poetry has recently appeared in The Stockholm Review of Literature, The Gentian Journal, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Miller’s Pond, and The Whimsical Poet.