She found and sold her soul
in Osaka while watching the
Geisha obi tied tight
Miles of fabric
Draping the ground
Beneath the cherry tree
Just a short distance from
The tea house
Pouring heat into the hearts
Of men
With dashing eyes
flitting from breast to neck
noting the jasmine of her hair
gathered in Tsuyoshi Shimada
A flirt of a smile, a gift
In return.
He whispers to her over
a steaming cup
Begging to meet
beneath the cherry tree.
Intellect-a stimulation that
Goes beyond the eyes
And lingers in the mind
pours into the soul
and drinks with lusty fervor.
Quick wit and lofty charm
Pour over leaves
The scent of vanilla and rose
Lingering beneath
Mustached noses
That whisper forever
With bearded lips against
The flesh of neck
Beneath the cherry tree
Where they meet
In secret
And talk of new beginnings
With he as her Dan’na
The man that chooses the wife
Not one chosen for
The sake of duty, name, and fortune.
A perfect match begins in the heart
And for geisha, they aren’t to have one
Separated through the mask of white
Of charcoal lines about the eyes
And red as cupid’s arrow
Shot upon the colored lips-
She falls in a love forbidden
As suitors line her pocket
The okiya brandishes a debt
To clear-nenki
for making her who she’d become
To love geisha is to admire beauty
An artwork in motion
One cannot keep the other true
Forever
despite her new beginning
and his love professed
their lives of duty come first
And sadly, he’d be her last
Beneath the cherry tree.