The
spring had with it warmth and happiness. Basking in its radiant
sunlight, the earth could finally forget the melancholy of winter
landscapes, with their dull-white snow and dried branches. The blacks
and whites of winter had finally brightened into full-blown colour: the
sky a tranquil blue, the earth covered with green grass.
Flower buds of so many hues peeped out from amidst the limbs and twigs.
These delicate buds, bursting forth from dried bark, had been forced to
endure dreadful chills. But nonetheless they had always continued to
prepare for the passing of the awful winter chill.
Now, the snows could no longer remain stubborn in the face of the
warmth that had arrived. So the ice thawed and the water soaked into the
earth, to be swallowed up by roots and refresh the plants.
The spring knows no favourites. It even visited my garden, nudging the
plants there to blossom. But in nature everything is constantly
changing, and the flowers in my garden are no exception. Eventually the
petals withered again; the remaining buds, pecked by birds.
One day autumn came, and with it the sense that the time of the flowers
was over. The chill winds once again stripped the leaves of the plants
and the trees with their invisible hands. And before long, the
snowflakes and frosts set out again to kill the flowers.
The blossoms were helpless as always, and fell easily to the ground.
But they never failed to store their remaining energies inside the bony
branches that would continue to struggle numbly against the brutal cold.
And on the day those branches met with the radiant sunrays once again,
the strength stored there would trigger off another round of blossoming.
Though the brutal winter could kill the flowers, it could do nothing
against this inner strength – the souls that lay hidden deep inside the
bones of the branches.
Each of us needs to struggle against the winter chill and prepare for
the coming spring. We must raise new plants to replace the damaged ones.
And if we do not rise to the occasion, if we feel helpless, we will be
the ones who feel the loss of the flowers when they fail to bloom.
Because we are afraid of the winter, we feel helpless when the cold
winds blow. But if we succumb to that feeling, we do not give ourselves
the chance to welcome the spring. Of course, spring cannot be brought on
by prayers alone. But as long as we are able to store our strength, our
souls, in our bodies during the difficult seasons, our spring will no
doubt bring with it a bounty of flowers to our garden.
Translated from the Burmese by Tazar
~ Khet Mar is a journalist, poet and author born in Burma.
HIMAL SOUTHASIAN magazine
December 2011
