Spring birds, now here, now there,
twittering and chirping,
“The best is yet to be,”
you are approaching the time of flourishing.”

Spring flowers, now starting to bloom,
tell you,
“The best is yet to be,
you are approaching the time of flourishing.”

Let me work as hard as those birds and flowers,
calling to myself,
“The best is yet to be,
I am approaching the time of flourishing.”

Shinmin Sakamura
Buddhist poet
My Unforked Path with Faith, Flowers and the Moon