Within but a single night
The cherry blossoms vanish
And are completely gone
~Issa*

*cited:
Within but a single night
The cherry blossoms vanish
And are completely gone
~Issa*

*cited:
The path is hidden
by Dharma,
invisible,
but memories of you
lead me onward

rain falls –
a memory of last year
left by a cloud

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

Nothing
in the world
is usual today
Sorrow is…
evergreen

Through the years
I’ve become used to sorrow,
there was not one spring
I didn’t leave behind
the flowers.
~Izumi Shikibu*

*cited:
The Ink Dark Moon
Trans: J Hirshfield & M Aratani
If I say
this or that,
how ordinary grief becomes –
broken cries are the words
that sorrow’s voice demands
~Izumi Shikibu*

*cited:
The Ink Dark Moon
Trans: J Hirshfield & M Aratani
Trailed with clouds
The layered memories
Of time forever gone
Stands between us now
In this spring dawn

100 days…28 days
Dear Larry,
as the winter winds travel across Wyoming’s landscape
the swirling snow releases its memories of you, lost upon Casper Mountain
its frigid touch awakens me to imagine your
aloneness in that wilderness of blinding snow
cries, deafened by the river of winds,
calling out in hope for
a human form to emerge out of the whiteness
the warmth of a human hand
the sound of a voice, comforting you
to accompany you home.
as I become lost within this winter’s swirling thoughts
the river winds tear into my soul
releasing tears arising from
the darkness of grief’s aloneness, seeking
a knowing to emerge out of ignorance’s darkness
you found peace
within a loving presence
that embraced you
and accompanied you home –
until then may refuge be found within the nature of things.
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