More selected poems from the Japanese incense ceremony:

Paul Sherwin, dean of the College of Humanities:
The color red,
But of tenderest hue,
Not the colorless
All-color white,
Is the shade I'll carry
In my heart and head
Tonight.

Marilyn Verhey, acting dean for faculty affairs:
White and Red
Kyara and manaka
Symbolizing peace.
Within our hearts,
Among ourselves.

Yenbo Wu, director of SFSU's Office of International Programs:
Coming from the Mother Earth,
Back to the Universe,
Incenses may smell different,
They all end up the same.

Midori McKeon, host of the ceremony and chair of Foreign Languages and Literatures, wrote two poems in Japanese and translated them into English:
Incomparable in color and scent
are the red camellia blossoms
in your garden
refreshed by a touch of rain.

Is Nature celebrating
the arrival of Spring
dressed in red-and-white
blossoms of the camellia?