Impermanence

—for Emrich

R.L. Boyer

This morning, I wake to greet the 69th
season since my birth. Young trees
outside my urban hut are arrayed with 

fragile newborn leaves, shedding the
last withered leaves of winter, all dancing
in the breeze. To the East, the

newborn sun rises above the ridge of
Sonoma Mountain as a giant white
egret glides gracefully along the base, 

just beyond brown wintered pastures.
Beyond the greening horizon, monks and
laymen sit like Buddhas, chant sutras—

minds emptied, stroll the temple grounds
amid newborn riots of delicate pink
cherry blossoms on the path to Suzuki-

roshi’s shrine. Spring prematurely
born in depths of winter, signs of
transience everywhere: even (global)

climate can change. 

R.L. Boyer is an award-winning poet, literary author, and screenwriter. Boyer is also a depth psychologist and scholar of symbolic-archetypal imagery in mythopoeic storytelling. He is currently a doctoral student in art and religion at the Graduate Theological Union and UC Berkeley.