this spring night
the floating bridge of dreams
broke off
parting with the mountaintop
low-lying clouds in the sky ~Teika
japanese poetry
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.
If I were…
If I were the emperor
of a deserted island
it would be nice. ~Soseki
winter’s slumber
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.
life’s journey
While I walk on
the moon keeps pace beside me
friend in the water
~Masshide (Yoel Hoffmann, Japanese Death Poems)
thursday’s special: le rouge et le noir
I write, erase, rewrite,
erase again,
and then a poppy blooms
~Hokushi
Lost in Translation challenge for this Thursday is to show the effects of red next to black.
my prayer, seeds of…
The autumn flowers
of my prayer bear
seeds of paradise
~Kin’ei
My gift to you…a Deer Park Dharmacast
https://soundcloud.com/deerparkdharmacast/2017-01-22-thay-phap-hai
winter leaves
The leaves of the bush clover rustle in the wind.
I, not a leaf,
watched you without a sound.
You may have thought I paid no attention.
~Kenrei Mon-in*
*cited:
Women Poets of Japan
K Rexroth & I Atsumi
journey piled on journey
Journey piled on journey
At a distance of a thousand years
Will you see?
From the pines of Sue,
To the living pine groves
~Izumi Skikibu
100 days…95th day
Song of Chugen
My parents departed long ago.
How often I grieve in sadness!
I had only two aunts left:
…
Last year I went to Kyoto and sobbed.
This year I moved to the shore of a lake and river.
My grief multiplies as I move through space and seasons.
…
Monks perform an urabon ceremony* after cleaning the temple.
The chanting of sad voices resounds to the red banners.
Then a cool breeze arrives;
cleansing and darkening showers merge with the dust.
Rain over, plantain shadow under the leaning sun-
the spirit of my father appears before me.
After the ceremony I return to the monks’ quarters,
making a silent dedication for his liberation:
“Spirit, do not stay sunk forever.
Quickly prepare a boat and cross to the other shore.”
~Ryokan**
*Since the early days of Buddhism,
the Urabon Ceremony is a time set aside
for people to pray for the
peace and happiness of the deceased.
**cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
Trans: K Tanahashi
100 days…94th day
unable to sleep
going out from the cottage –
the summer moon
~ Buson*
*cited:
Haiku Master Buson
Y Sawa & E Shiffert
100 days…93rd day
on some days
not even a cuckoo calls
to this lone traveler
~Tagami Kikusha*
*cited:
Far Beyond the Field
M Ueda
a meditative journey 
You must be logged in to post a comment.