Cherry blossoms

"What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms."

~ Kobayashi Issa

For the past few days, I have seen them grow and mature from tight pink buds to shy white blossoms. Entangled in the mossy labyrinth of twigs and boughs, they emerged suddenly one day like blessings from heaven. I walked closer to the trees and touched the tiny throb of life in the petals. The late afternoon sky, a perfect blue against their quivering pearly bodies. Some strewn on the black twigs like giant pearls, while the others in plump, star-like clusters clung to the wet green boughs.
As the day stretched towards its end, the daylight outside the pearly grove faded into a waxy twilight and there - they changed, and just like that. It was a surreal moment in an altogether different world. A perfect, pastel hued world. Enraptured by their overwhelming presence, it sure felt strange to be alive beneath cherry blossoms.