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(Photo by Meneerke Bloem. Wikipedia, 2008)

 

Its leaves don’t move me,

but when I think the phoenix

chose to dwell in it,

fore-telling the Emperor’s

advent, then I bow

before its magnificence.

Many a zither

gains fine resonance from it;

it makes good boxes

and produces gunpowder,

its bark a fast dye.

Regeneration from its roots

links it to the bird legend.