Stolen on the wind

I’ve always loved cherry blossom trees, not only because they’re breathtakingly beautiful, but also because of what they represent. They embody the Japanese concept of mono no aware: the awareness of impermanence, the bittersweet recognition that beauty is fleeting.

When the blossoms arrive, the world feels alive with color and renewal. Yet even in that moment of joy, there’s the quiet knowledge that the petals will soon scatter, carried away on the wind. That tension between the desire to hold onto something forever and the truth that it cannot last is what gives the blossoms their power.

This haiku grew from that reflection. A kiss, like the blossoms, is both intimate and fragile, a moment suspended in time before it slips away. Writing it was my way of honoring that transience, and of reminding myself to appreciate beauty while it’s here rather than mourning when it fades.

The cherry blossom reminds us of life’s preciousness, here one moment, gone the next. Its beauty lies not in permanence, but in the way it teaches us to love more deeply, knowing we cannot keep it.