belt of orien
in the dark sky
a silent reminder. . .
but if, gazing at it, we just reminisce
our three hearts may meet
poetry
thursday’s special: s-curve
Today again
I’ll go to the hill
where the pine winds blow –
perhaps to meet my friend
who was cooling himself there yesterday.
~ Saigyo (Poems of a Mountain Home)
…submitted in response to Lost in Translation’s photo challenge: s-curve.
interconnected
When you look at a leaf or a raindrop, meditate on all the conditions, near and distant, that have contributed to the presence of that leaf or raindrop. Know that the world is woven of interconnected threads. This is, because that is. This is not, because that is not. This is born because that is born. This dies, because that dies.
The birth and death of any dharma are connected to the birth and death of all other dharms. The one contains the many and the many contain the one. Without the one, there cannot be the many. Without the many, there cannot be the one.
…the interconnected links consist of many layers and levels…
~Thich Nhat Hanh (Old Path White Clouds)
umbrella
goats beard’s
umbrellas taking shape
spring rain
the road home
the road home –
longer for all
after blossom viewing
~Socho (Trans: S Carter, Haiku before Haiku)
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
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)
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)
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.
jump on over to Lost in Translation to participate
what’s beyond
I don’t know
what’s beyond the mountain
where the late sunlight streams
but already I’ve sent
my mind on ahead
~Saigyo (Trans: B Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)
enduring trace
Like the comfortless plover of the beach
In the sand printing characters soon to be washed away.
Unable to leave a more enduring trace in this fleeting world.
~The Sarashina Diary, AD 1009-1059 (Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
The enduring qualities of art…speaking through time’s boundaries…resonating with the soul’s deep and private moments.
dandelion wind
dandelion wind
another wish
drifts away
~Garry Gay
a meditative journey 
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