Fresh snow

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fresh snow -
your whiteness strikes me
once again



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We were woken up in the early morning by the local policeman.
Grandma Stonefield was missing since yesterday! All are out searching for her, using long poles poking the weeds and brushes at the roadside.
Divers were checking the nearby pond.
Night came so early. By morning it was well below five degrees centigrade.

At sunrise, the search continued.
Dogs from Okayama police department were deployed.
Toward nightbreak, a bark close to the ditch:


fresh snow -
the paleness of her
dead body


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We often met on my walks to the local shrine.
With her 88 years, she was much more sure-footed at the steep slopes between the rice paddies than myself. We would sit on the small path and chat for a while.
She had lived alone in her old farm for more than 20 years now, tending the vegetable garden and some fruit trees. She was born here in Ohaga and never left the place.

Dear Grandmother, we will miss you so much!
Namu Amida Butsu.



funeral parade -
black robes wandering
through the white snow


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. WKD : Graves and Funerals .


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