Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

a barren tree
 stands in the temple yard:
  winter’s guardian.

waves jet upward
 with unpredictable rhythm:
  glance away, miss it.

hibiscus flowers 
 show their bright colors
  on a winter day.

cool winter day:
 clouds form thickly over 
  the hot springs.

waves hit rocky shore
 and spout a geyser that rains
  like a mini squall.

city, nightfall:
 the temple’s fierce creatures
  turn nightmare shapes.

eyeing the mountain
 like it’s defeated you once,
  and may again.

on a gray day,
 a mournful river slows 
  almost to a stop.

rainclouds crawl nearer,
 like a battle cruiser
 inching towards war.

Morning Glories sit,
 coolly, in the shadow of
  Mexican Sunflowers.