Gazing at Spring ~ A Poem by Xue Tao

When Flowers Bloom and Fall: Reflections on Love and Longing

Do our hearts ache more in moments of beauty or in moments of loss? Xue Tao’s words invite us to sit with that question.

Gazing at Spring

Xue Tao

Flowers bloom:
no one
to enjoy them with.

Flowers fall:
no one
with whom to grieve.

I wonder when love’s
longings
stir us most –

when flowers bloom,
or when flowers fall?

Source

Reflection

Xue Tao’s Gazing at Spring offers a haunting simplicity. She contrasts the beauty of flowers blooming with the sorrow of their fall, weaving love and longing into both seasons. The poem speaks to the universal ache of solitude—joy feels incomplete without someone to share it, and grief grows heavier without a companion to hold it. Her final question pierces: do we yearn more in life’s blossoms or in its endings? Perhaps the answer is not either/or. Love stirs most whenever we stand at the threshold—of beauty or of loss—reminded of our need for connection. The poem lingers like petals in the wind, urging us to notice how love is bound to both presence and absence, both the blooming and the falling.