The Seedling

Snow-flowers wander home
When they melt and flow to the roaring sea
Rock-ferns roll their fronds up
Close again and blend with the cold soil
Myriads of living creatures sink into death's arms
Dust to dust, spirit to spirit

Trees towering in the sky
Braving storms of centuries
Seedlings turning faces to the light for a single day
All alike pass on and away
Under the ancient law
Like them we'll die and become one
With the hallowed earth again

We are nothing more than withered leaves
Whirled around in the winds of eternity
Do we remember the tree that shed us
Before everything is covered by the winter's veil of white?