In Place 5

 5

She has cleaned up this site;
weeping, she finds toys
her children had mislaid among thorns
and stones, moss-covered now

Here in 2013 the impending demise of the fir tree has become quite evident. It had shaded the hut as a playhouse and a writer's cabin, as well as numerous picnics. From this eastern window one can hear a small waterfall in winter, towhees in summer. In the 1990s, children played round this structure and inevitably lost or threw away some toys; plastic lasts a long time but moss will nevertheless hide it for awhile.

...retiring to my hut I accept white hair
but sigh that today and the years gone by
are mindless like the rivers flowing east
-- Han Shan (Cold Mountain, tr. Red Pine)