poetry

umbrella

goats beard’s

umbrellas taking shape

spring rain

umbrella

the road home

the road home –

longer for all

after blossom viewing

~Socho (Trans: S Carter, Haiku before Haiku)

roadhomesocho

private wish

On a road with not a soul

to keep me company,

as summer begins

a child’s private wish

sent me on my way

privatewish

the world seems…

Is it because my mind

keeps dwelling

on every worldly thing

the the word seems

more hateful to me than ever?

~SaigyO (Poems of a Mountain Home)

doubleexposurebuddha

SaigyO was born in 1118 in the capital city, Kyoto. When he was twenty-two he suddenly left his post as an elite private guard of Emperor Toba to become a Buddhist priest. I find it interesting how his poem written almost a thousand years ago resonates with me today especially when I think of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr’s (who was born in 1808) translated epigram, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

mind’s dreaming

In a mountain village

when I’m lost in the dark

of the mind’s dreaming

the sound of the wind

blows me to brightness.

~Saigyo (Trans: B Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)

minddreamingsaigyo

thursday’s special: portrait vs landscape

on horseback

making a silent bow…

thin mist

~Issa (www.haikuguy.com)

On an afternoon walk, we came upon an end-of-school celebration at a local park. As I wandered about the carnival setting, memories of past transitions that included a sense of freedom came to mind. Freedom to play, to explore, to be… My summers were a time in which I was allowed to roam over hills and through meadows, to swim in rivers and creeks, and to reenact storybook characters. No television, no internet, no social media…just freedom to play in an landscape that extended far beyond the horizon.

endofschoolyear2