On a pitch-dark night road
I get lost
watching the moon
set behind the faraway mountain
~Ryokan*

*cited:
Sky above, Great Wind
Trans: K Takahashi
On a pitch-dark night road
I get lost
watching the moon
set behind the faraway mountain
~Ryokan*

*cited:
Sky above, Great Wind
Trans: K Takahashi
The fields in spring time
Lie trailed with mist
And somewhat sadly
In this evening gloam
A bush warbler, sings
~Otomo no Yakamochi*

*cited:
rain falls –
a memory of last year
left by a cloud

Morning and evening
I gazed at
incense smoke –
drifting,
remembering…

In an old temple
deep in Mount Koya,
Kii Province,
I listen to raindrops
falling from a cedar tree.
~Ryokan*

*cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
Trans: K Tanahashi
Gloriously
Shines the spring sun
A skylark soars
And sad am I,
Alone with my thoughts
~Man’yoshu*

*cited:
up ahead, someone
will be at home
spring morning

Morning haze
hides blossoms from the wind
too completely
~Senjun*

*cited:
Haiku before Haiku
Trans: S Carter
I am a drop of dew
Hanging from a leaf
Yet, I am not unrestful
For on this branch, I seem to have existed
From before the birth of the world
~Izumi Shikibu

Grasses in a mist
and water flowing silently,
daylight fading
~Buson*

*cited:
Haiku Master Buson
Trans: Y Sawa & E Shiffert
Springtime rain!
Almost dark, and yet
today still lingers
~Buson*

this image is available through Turning Art
*cited:
Haiku Master Buson
Trans: Y Sawa & E Shiffert
The depth of the hearts
Of humankind cannot be known.
But in my birthplace
The plum blossoms smell the same
As in the years gone by.
~Ki no Tsurayuki*

image submitted in response to Lost in Translation’s b&w challenge: timeless
*cited:
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