The last of the cherry blossom – When it’s perfect, it falls

The last of the cherry blossom. On the tree, it turns ever more perfect. And when it’s perfect, it falls. And then of course once it hits the ground it gets all mushed up. So it’s only absolutely perfect when it’s falling through the air, this way and that, for the briefest time. . . I think that only we Japanese understand that, don’t you?

– David Mitchell, Ghostwritten

Thanks are due to a good friend on social media for reminding me of the David Mitchell quote. One day I hope to get closer to understanding the fleeting beauty of the sakura or cherry blossom. Until then, I stand under as many trees as possible taking as many pictures as I can while contemplating the passage of time. These were taken a week ago and already the last of the cherry blossom has gone, mushed underfoot as the trees now blaze green and the hayfever has Tokyoites sneezing into their face masks.

This year more than others, perhaps understandably, we have longed for the release of the flower viewing parties, the hanami, the joy that the sakura brings, the feeling that, like the trees, we can begin again after a long period of cold. And even as we begin, know that it must come to an end. We are, after all, like petals on the wind.

Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.

– Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

Be sure to enjoy as many perfect moments as you can before the fall.