Chún Chūn

We made this up. We don’t know
If it can even be said
Or makes sense. We were thinking

Of all the millions of words
In languages that aren’t this,
And we started wondering

If the character for chún,
Employed in Mandarin terms
Involving simplicity

And unadulterated
Purity, could pair with chūn,
For spring. In English, pure spring

Is a frequent pairing, but
Mostly as advertising
For water—pure spring water.

Purity is dangerous
As a notional ideal
For a compound animal,

And spring’s a season unknown
In the tropics. Still, something
About the pairing, pure spring—

Chún chūn?—feels bright and global.
We are what you know of us.
Then again, what do we know?