<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">I Was Reading A Poem</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">I was reading a poem by Ryōkan about a leaf, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">and how it showed the front and the back as it </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">fell, and I wanted to call someone — my wife, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">my brother — to tell about the poem.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">And I thought that maybe my telling about the </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">poem was the front of the leaf and my silence </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">about the poem was the back.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">And then I thought that maybe my telling and </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">my silence together were honestly just the front </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">of the leaf, and that the back was something </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">else, something I didn’t understand.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">And then I thought that maybe everything I </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">understood and everything I didn’t were both </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">actually just the front of the leaf — so that the </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">totality of my life was actually just the front of </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">the leaf, just the one side — which would make </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">the other side my death. . . .</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">Unless my life and death together were really </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">still only the front of the leaf?</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">I had left the branch. I was falling.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;">I was loose now in the bright autumn air.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 26px;"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-width: normal; font-size: 22px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- David Rutschman </p></div></body></html>