This poem was written by my friend Aya Yuhki. She is currently the editor of "Tanka International", in Tokyo, Japan.

All I can do

softly
when the winds
caress the door of fate,
I will open it for you.

a bare tree stands
with silver branches
stretched to the utmost,
I will gaze at the clouds with you.

at waters' edge
a reed stands almost broken
by winds,
I will be brown together with you.

for the sake of hungry birds,
in this winter brought by the cold waves
of global warming,
I put a feeder in my garden.

once born,
with one hundred percentage certainty
Death comes;
we will share the time on the earth.

to accept you,
to stand by you,
to give a little,
to share the time on the earth,
this is all I can do.
Aya Yuhki