The shower peppers my office window;
raindrops slant across glass. Below,
12th Street's silver as pedestrians labor
with umbrellas; headlighted cabs sail
past, windshield wipers awash. I woke
to thundercrashes; yesterday's balmly,
summery sun swilled away, and I fret
for the fragile cherry blossoms round
the Tidal Basin: Kwanzan, Usuzumi,
Yoshino, Akebono, Takesimensis. . .
Christopher T. George
Japanese Cherry Blossoms, Tidal Basin, Washington, D.C.
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The names at the end of the poem are the different
varieties of cherry trees that grow round the Tidal Basin.
The original cherry trees were a gift from the people
of Japan to the people of the United States in 1912.
See
http://www.nps.gov/cherry/index.htm
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