Jukai (Sea of Trees)

Jukai (Sea of Trees)

It is here that I decide to string my last ribbon
on the elbow of a crooked cypress, by the path
of the forest trail. I can feel the grief of this place
through the tenor of that ribbon; the dangling bones
of the half-felled tree that ties me. In the hourless green
of Jukai, I squat in the moss and will myself to be lost—

To soften my hold so we would part. But to be lost
to that earnest cypress is as bad as losing the ribbon.
It is my connection to here, to you, the splinter of green
In your clear eye. I feel it when our ribbons cross paths.
The touch of white silk against blue jolting my bones;
There it is strung: amongst all others in all places,

Tangled in tree limbs and roots. I cross to the place
where ribbons meet, and take up yours. Then, I am lost…
All at once, I can feel the tremble of your soft bird bones
in my arms, years ago, while I clutch your wrung ribbon.
What drove you to cast it here? Perhaps path-finding
that came to path-ending, somewhere in this stifling green.

If I were to be one of these trees, I wish to be evergreen
like the cypress. I could get up and search for the place
you lie, and plant down my roots at the end of your path;
on the brink of your destruction. Though you are lost,
You are found through me; you are tied to me by ribbon.
I will stand tall and resolute, and carry your tired bones.

The pine and oak will lift you too with their bearing bones,
and together we will pass you valley to mountain green
then to me again, above the thousands of streaking ribbons.
I’ll fling you out like stardust, to settle far from this place.
Following your white streak, my own route now lost,
I carry myself to where you rest, just off the forest path.

It is here that I’ll plant these roots. Just by this path
below a dead tree: I know your white agony is here, in lost
and staggered breaths, your toe just an inch from the green—
My dangled darling. It is here that I kneel and place
my left hand to my right cheek. You are tied to me by ribbons…

You are lost. Not far from this place, by the cypress, off the path
I’ll string my ribbon further. The greenness here still can’t cover
The stark relief of your bones, still stood in their shoes.

-

A/N: Aokigahara or Jukai is a forest in Japan infamous for its many suicides. The visitors here tie ribbons to trees to avoid getting lost in the dense foliage.

This poem was written as a homework task for University. The form is a sestina which is actually a lot harder than it looks... see if you can find the pattern. This is a rough and indeed crappy draft but I've uploaded it for help, haha. Comments are just as welcome as reviews. Thank you!