Ode to Bamboo

Ode to Bamboo

in honor of my walking friend, Liu Juhua

The peasant farmer harvests slender young bamboo for his garden

while new beans sprout from the moist soil of Jincheng Mountain.

Must the bamboo’s destiny be a stalk for the climbing bean, partner to maturing corn?

This, perhaps, is interdependence.

Nonetheless, I fear for the bamboo forest that is our home, our comfort, our serenity.

I mourn for the emerald bamboo that has not yet grown to see the sun.

-rick, june 2013