this spring night
the floating bridge of dreams
broke off
parting with the mountaintop
low-lying clouds in the sky ~Teika
art
WPC: surprise
Without my journey.
And without the spring.
I would have missed this dawn.
~Shiki (The Moon in the Pines, Trans: J Clements)
tangled…in ignorance
Minnows are helpless
Caught in the branches of a tree
Set out to lure them,
So we too are tangled
In the snare of ignorance. ~Lord Toshiyori (Trans: N Yuasa, The Year of My Life)
I have found…
In this world
I have found
No perfect drop of dew-
Not even on the lotus. ~Issa (Trans: N Yuasa, The Year of My Life)
tulip tree
A child weeping
Bids me
Pick the full moon
From the sky. ~Issa (The Year of My Life, Trans: N Yuasa)
Yesterday still present
In this spring’s night,
Yesterday still feels present
In the light of dawn.
To what region of clouds
Has the wandering moon found home?
wpc: dense
It matters not
What you might say.
Echoes will come
From dead trees. ~Issa (The Year of My Life, Trans: N YuasaJ)
Soon…the warmth of spring rains will transform bare branches into dense shades of green.
slightly bent…
a lotus stem-
slightly bent-
apt emblem
of this world ~Issa (The Year of My Life, Trans: N Yuasa)
wpc: it is easy being green!
The first dream of the year –
I kept it a secret
and smiled to myself ~Sho-U
If I were…
If I were the emperor
of a deserted island
it would be nice. ~Soseki
winter’s slumber
model 1951
Oh butterfly
What are you dreaming of
When you move your wings ~Chiyo-Ni
enlightenment
Inhale, exhale
Forward, back
Living, dying:
Arrows, let flow each to each
Meet midway and slice
The void in aimless flight-
Thus I return to the source ~Gesshu Soko
Hoffmann (Japanese Death Poems, p. 97) notes that within this poem the arrows after hitting in midair do not fall to the ground, but continue in directionless flight through empty space. He further states that the image within this poem tells of a state of consciousness in which the concept of the ordinary mind forming one’s outlook on the world have vanished and polarities (good-bad, life-death) are embraced in an enlightened being.
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