A warm July morning in Sendai
Third week in this unknown city
The people in similar attire
Walking hurriedly
Looked different
Their language, food,
Customs and sign boards
All were alien to me
The only consolation was
Multi colored cosmos flowers
And hydrangeas
By the roadside to the campus
Which filled my heart with inexplicable joy
It is in the same time of each year
That they bloomed
In our garden
It was like meeting
A long lost friend
In this unknown land
-Ayoma Wijewardena