In the cherry blossom's shadeby Kobayashi Issa English version
by Robert Hass Original Language Japanese In the cherry
blossom's shade there's no such thing as a stranger. |-- from
The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen
Mitchell| In Japanese Zen poetry, spring blossoms, particularly
cherry blossoms, are often used as symbols for the simple,
natural, unfolding springtime of enlightenment. Understanding
this, the rest of the poem opens up. In the "shade" or, you
might say, beneath the canopy of enlightenment, there is no
longer any sense of separation. Nothing and no one is foreign to
you. There is no such thing as a stranger.