Hi, Gaer, and welcome to the Rapids. Always good to have another voice heard in here :)

I found this a very pleasant read. Strong imagery combined with a tone of tranquility and wisdom. The questions posed were not intrusive. More, they seem nearly rhetorical in this context, which I found to be a very effective device.

I tend toward preferring punctuation in poetry, but realize that's a personal preference and think that in many of the Japanese forms the poetry works just as well without. I think that's probably the case here. The line breaks very nearly provide the punctuation. One suggestion: if you're not going to punctuate, I'd lose the initial cap to begin the poem just for consistency's sake. Just my thought!

I'm wondering if I'm misinformed on the params of the Choka form. You've got a consistent pattern here of 5, 7, 7, 5, 7, 7, and so on. My understanding of the Choka is that it alternates lines of 5 and 7 syllables and concludes with a final line of 7 syllables (the envoi), so that your ending would be 5, 7, 7. The rest of the poem would be 5, 7, 5, 7, etc.

Either way, it was a pleasant read that I enjoyed. :)
Anyone can write of beauty -- of life, friendship, love everlasting -- but it is those rare, brave souls who dare to live their words that are the true poets of the universe. That is where true beauty lies. ~JaML