Poems of Japan

 Poems of Japan by Pat Lee 

One of AJA's dedicated members, Alan Lee and his wife Pat Lee both love Japan.

They have traveled to Japan several times and Pat has written some poems about Japan. 

Here are some of Pat's poems of Japan from her book of poems 

These poems are part of a collection by Pat Lee published in ‘Nudge the Morning‘ by Ginninderra Press (2017). 

• Japanese Cherry Blossoms 2012
• Enroute to Nikko from Tokyo 
• Little Boy on the platform 2014
• Kobe-Culture Day 2014
• Kobe Autumn Days 2014 
• Kobe
• Japan Farmland and Forest 2019
• Enroute from Kyoto to Komatsu



Cherry Blossoms

Japan 2012

In a waltz with warmer days,

in timed progression,

cherry trees transform to clouds,

pure and pastel pink.

Frail blossoms faintly glow

in morning light

and day’s beginnings seem luminous.

After the bleak, dismal, dim,

the strengthening sun opens wide,

the possibilities of days.

People brim the streets with colour.

This is the time of Hanami*

to view the blossoms’ blush

to promenade and chat with friends,

have picnics under cherry trees,

and glimpse through pink tulle canopies,

white cirrus streaks on indigo.

As paper lanterns light spring nights 

lovers old and new 

embrace the fleeting hours of Yozakura** 

to whisper wishes in the dark made calm

by the hush of falling blossoms.

* Hanami = cherry blossom viewing, at the beginning of spring, 

reminds of the shortness and transience of life 

** Yozakura = night Hanami



Little Boy on the Platform

Japan, Culture Day Holiday, 2014 

On the busy platform,

a little boy,

stood behind the yellow line,

waving a small brown towel.

He wiped his eyes,

with the towel

and waved again.

Tears welled.

His mother bent to comfort him.

Without response

he wiped his eyes,

and waved the towel,

again, and again.

Departure music sounded.

As the silent Shinkansen

slid out of the station,

an old man returned to his seat,

and dried his eyes.



Kobe Autumn Days

Japan 2014

Clouds waterfall down valley paths

to city streets below.

Thin wisps cross autumn avenues

and somehow find the sea

to disappear, dissolve in waves

between the waiting cargo ships

in line along the wharves.

Through day and night, as clouds

converge or drift away with wind,

the lights of helipads up high

on office blocks brushing the sky

flash in and out of view.

Across the bay in swell and sway

of gusting rain and moving mists,

another city’s towers rise,

claiming scant space on the flat plain.

On akibare* days, when sky’s intensely blue,

gleaming sun shines down glossing leaves,

green-yellow, red, and orange-brown,

before they fall to ground.

And so it is, and was, and will,

Kobe’s autumn days unfurl,

as clouds close in, then clear.

*akibare: clear sky day modest



Japan Farmland and Forest

2019

Rising above a ring of clouds,

prescient Mount Fuji observes,

the seasons colouring forests, rivers,

and tiny villages

dotted across the neatly patched, 

landscape of paddy fields and farmland.

From tillage to harvest farmers 

go about their daily work,

restoring their spirits as they toil, 

knowing when their shadow fades and is no more,

they will be remembered—

for tucked amongst paddy fields

or nestled on hillside ridges, 

between groves of lush bamboo, 

small family graveyards remind of blood lines,

those they love, 

gone – but still among them.

Away from drum and flash of cities 

within the forests of Hakone

where air is moist and heavy, 

water drips from leaves, 

trickles down damp, hidden paths, 

forming rivulets and birthing streams, 

swift flowing and cool, 

bringing with them welcome waves of air 

carrying songs of the forest,

and the earthy smell of moss and soil. 

A languid sense of calm descends, 

and time seems endless.