In March, the warm wind returned to
Korea, carrying its annual promise of visual splendor. Around the
cherry trees it curled and swirled, bidding them join the game of
spring; open their blossoms to the world. The message, warmly given,
was warmly received. For the cherry trees, too, had been anxious for
winter to subside, that they might swell into full radiance. And as
they did, dull, wintry countryside was transformed into optimistic
impressionism. As if Monet had had his way with the dreary canvas,
the mountains were soon adorned with smatterings of pastel
effervescence.
That same warm wind swept in and through
cities, encouraging the cherry buds to burst forth. The trees
responded promptly, eager to replace the starkness of streets and
sidewalks. Fluffy elegance prevailed in defiance of the city’s
dense, angular massiveness. So great the contrast between
cement-laden, rugged urbanity and these innumerable pink puffs of
heaven, it seemed miraculous that such delicacies could survive. Yet
there they hung in all their beauty; oases in this concrete desert;
gently caressing appreciative eyes.
After their reign high on the branches of
magnificence, they once again gave in to the wind’s bidding, and
began to gracefully pirouette to the ground. It was during this
dancing descent that one foreigner came into direct contact with
them. En route to Kwanganli Beach, I traversed one of Pusan's
famous cherry blossom-viewing streets. There, blossom petals
fluttered down in scores. Appearing so much like snowflakes, I
half-expected them to melt in my hand. But they didn't. Rather, they
remained, like a velvety glove.
On the streets near the curbs, drifts of
fallen blooms resembled banks of snow, and when the wind blew as it
so forcefully did that night, they were up and swirling in its gusty
energy. A fluffy snowstorm it was, but hat and mitts were not the
order of the day. That message, carried on the warm Korean wind, was
warmly received by this snow-seeking Canadian.
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