April Showers in Washington, D.C.

Japanese Cherry Blossoms, Tidal Basin, Washington, D.C.


April Showers in Washington, D.C.

Cold showers pepper my office window;
raindrops slant across glass. Below,
12th Street's silver as pedestrians labor

with umbrellas; headlighted cabs sail
past, windshield wipers awash. I woke
to thundercrashes; yesterday's balmly,

summery sun's swilled away, and I fret
for the fragile Japanese cherry trees round
the Tidal Basin: Kwanzan, Usuzumi,
Yoshino, Akebono, Takesimensis. . .

Christopher T. George

The names at the end of the poem are the different varieties of cherry trees that grow round the Tidal Basin. The original cherry trees were a gift from the people of Japan to the people of the United States in 1912.

See the link through the title above for a National Park Service site giving more information on D.C.'s cherry blossoms and their history.

Unfortunately, the cherry blossoms did suffer some damage in yesterday's rainstorm and some near Union Station seem a bit worse for wear and not as glorious as they looked on Monday which as expressed in the poem was a summer-like day.