Creamy stripes grace straps of green,
scarlet veins on crinkled leaves,
ruby berries in tiny green bottles,
leaves of mottled black and purple—
pots of robin’s egg blue and mint green,
a single stalk of bamboo in a glazed
cinnabar porcelain kimono, little prayer
flags hanging in the window—
the sight of pines and woodpeckers,
the smell of freshly brewed coffee—
how easy it is to take for granted
the transcendent beauty
of an ordinary morning.
