In the Japanese Garden

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They say there is a tree hidden in the Yunnan Province of China

that shivers when it is touched.

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Like scarlet stars

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these five-fingered leaves

of the Japanese maple

shimmer and shine

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like five hundred

fragile hands

spilling silver and gold

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reaching upward

and outward

towards me

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trembling

with blessings

from the Bodhisattva*tree.

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*One whose essence is enlightenment

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