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Ryland Shengzhi Li

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How tenderly the dusk light gathers in the mimosa blossoms. I bring a branch close by my face. A fragrance—entirely unexpected—after all these years of admiring them from afar. Were their branches just too high for me? Or my thoughts always away in some far-off plane?

midsummer night
the flowing lullaby
of our breaths

 

About the writer:
Ryland Shengzhi Li is an environmental lawyer and poet living in Northern Virginia. His work juxtaposes the natural with the human and suggests the interdependence between all things. Ryland writes predominantly haiku and tanka, and his work has been published in Frogpond, Modern Haiku, Ribbons, Presence, and many other journals.

Image: The Bouquet of Mimosa by Séraphine Louis (Séraphine de Senlis) (1864-1942). No medium specified. No size specified. 1932. Public domain.

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