GUEST COLUMNIST PAUL HERTELENDY Poet Laureat of www.thecolumnists.com

Two by Hertelendy

FUJI STICK or The High-Echelon Relationship

By PAUL HERTELENDY
for TheColumnists.com

The college sophomore was a bundle of surprises. But his feisty prickliness toward Dad had spread into A long-run saga, predictable as nothing else In multi-vectored life transition. He launched critiques in streams, Disparaging his father’s smallest slight or slightest slip, En route, unwittingly, toward ever greater independence. Yet upon his one free summer day, in Tokyo, He rushed by train and bus to climb Mt. Fuji, Sacred soaring mountain mostly swathed in clouds and rain or snow. Though pressed for time, he paused to buy a fine-hewn Fuji walking stick, And stopped again at every mountain hut To have the stick inscribed as testament of passage. A three-hour race attained the summit, Where he shivered in the rain-swept cold And peered through mists opaque And gasped for lack of air. Racing down, he barely caught the last train back to Tokyo, Where his homeward flight awaited him at dawn. Denied his on-board access with his stick in hand, He checked it most reluctantly, and said he’d pummel personnel If ever stick were broken on the way. Arriving home with Fuji keepsake still intact, In time to celebrate his father’s birthday, The youngster gave the staff he knew The dad would love and treasure dearly As a gift of boundless sacrifice. The Japanese inscriptions burnt upon the stick Identified each mountain hut, The youth, that bundle of surprises, Pointed out with seriousness and pride. But Dad knew better: Every one of them meant LOVE.

RYOANJI’S PARADISE OF ZEN

Zen garden: Some rocks Protrude from bare raked gravel. There to contemplate! ---At Ryoanji Temple, Kyoto

Both poems © 2002 by Paul Hertelendy. The illustrations are from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA.



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