I stood there just watching a cherry tree in bloom cold night moonlight I couldn’t imagine anything whiter than this it looked like snowfall caught in the branches every limb even the smallest carrying its own quiet weight no swan is this white even the shadows lost their darkness where the moon slipped through the leaves I thought nothing on earth could outshine this walking back and forth beneath the tree I looked up through the blossoms and then something whiter not of the tree not of the night a brightness too clear too distant the blossom-snow turned almost dark against it a white light from a far star fell on my face not warm not cold just there and everything on earth felt suddenly smaller
