Have you forgotten?
Has the path disappeared?
These days
I have spent waiting and waiting,
but you have not yet arrived. ~Ryokan*
Fujifilm X-T4: f/4 1/35s 19.2mm 400 ISO
*cited: Kazuaki Tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind
the waiting room with ryokan
Ryokan
the waiting room
Were there someone
in the world
who feels as I feel,
we would talk all night
in this grass hut. ~Ryokan (Trans: K Tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind)
As I watch the eastern horizon’s transition from the black of night to first light’s opaque colors and then to sunrise’s pastels, I find myself asking,” “What is it that you are waiting for? Or, are you, unknowingly, waiting for someone?”
The morning news filters into my consciousness, blinding me to what is now, and another cycle of searching and editing of words … sentences … meaning begins an undeclared battle with internalized others; fragmented, abstract, vague, absent others.
ryokan
The cloud-covered sky
is all open
The heart of takuhatsu*
as it is–
a gift from heaven ~Ryokan, The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan, Trans: Kabuki Tahanhashi
Fujifilm X-T4 f/4 1/25 s 17.1 mm 500 IS)
*A term for the monk’s alms-begging round
life’s passages … 56
My abode is
in winter seclusion
on this white mountain in Echigo.
No trace of humans
coming or going.
~Ryokan*
*cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
K Tanahashi
life’s passages … 38
Day by day, day by day, and day by day,
quietly in the company of children I live,
In my sleeves, tiny embroidered balls, two or three.
Useless, intoxicated, in this peaceful spring.~Ryokan*
*cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
K Tanahashi
lens-artists photo challenge: special moments
“…each moment gives rise to the next, this is because that is. We do not exist in isolation; there is nothing that exist by itself alone.” (cited: Brother Phap Hai, Nothing to it.
On a pitch-dark
night road
I get lost
watching the moon
set behind the faraway mountain. Ryokan (cited: Trans. K Tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind)
Clouds drifting off:
the sight of
moonlit heavens ~Kizan (cited: Trans. Y. Hoffman, Japanese Death Poems)
Even more
because of being alone
the moon is a friend ~Buson (cited: Trans: Y Sawa & E M Shiffert, Haiku Master Buson)
This week’s lens-artists photo challenge is hosted by Tina (Travels and Trifles) who invites us to share some of those special moments that have taken our breath away.
be safe, be well, and be sage.
thursday’s special
More precious than jewels and gold spread under the sky-- your visit at the beginning of spring. ~Ryokan (cited: Trans K Tanahashi, Sky Above Great Wind)
This month’s Thursday’s Special Pick a Word Challenge words are: aureate, canine, consecrated, deciduous, desolate.
autumn
We promised to see each other when rice is transplanted. Already autumn wind is blowing through yellow leaves ~Ryokan (cited: Trans: K Tanahashi, Sky Above Great Wind)
six word saturday: brush painting in turn autumn; night
Two of us
brush painting in turn;
autumn night. ~Ryokan (cited: Trans: K Tanahasi, Sky Above Great Wind)
inspired by Travel With Intent’s Six Word Saturday challenge
lens-artists photo challenge: morning
Stay at Home Order … day 25 plus 14 seclusion retreat days
O for a friend–that we might see and listen together!
O the beautiful dawn in the mountain village!–
The repeated sound of cuckoos near and far away.
~The Sarashina Diary (cited: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
Sony RX1003 f/2.8 1/125s 25.7mm 80 ISO
in the silver dew
one sleeve cold…
morning sun
~Issa (cited: haikuguy.com)
Nikon D750 f/1.8 1/1600s 35m 100 ISO
A nightingale’s song
Brings me out of a dream:
The morning glows
~Ryokan
Sony RX 1003 f/2.8 1/250s 19.48mm 80 ISO
at dawn
not a soul in sight…
lotus blossoms
~Issa (cited: haikuguy.com)
Sony RX1003 f/2.8 1/126s 22.38mm 80 ISO
In the Autumn night
The pale morning moon was setting
When I turned away from the shut door.
~The Diary of Izumi Shikibu (cited: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
The pale morning moon* … camping with my family in the “Snowies”
This week Ann-Christine invites us to look at our morning – or Any morning -maybe there is a special morning that we will never forget.
*The waning moon is called the morning moon because it can be seen after dawn
lens-artists photo challenge: distance
My abode is
in winter seclusion
on this white mountain in Echigo.
No trace of humans
coming or going ~ Ryokan (Trans: K tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind)
with nothing
to touch, a dead branch
grabs at the sky ~Katsura Nobuko (cited: Trans: M Ueda, Far Beyond the Field)
Protecting the child
from the cold autumn wind,
the old scarecrow. ~ Issa (cited: Trans: S Hamill, The Spring of My Life)
Winter wind!
A charcoal peddler all alone
in a small ferry boat ~ Buson (cited: Trans: Y Sawa & E M Shiffert, Haiku Master Buson)
A special thank you to the Lens-Artists Photographers who continue to challenge and inspire. The above images and poetry is submitted in response to Travels and Trifles challenge: distance.
Please be safe. We can do this…we really can!
“Mystere: – Kalimando” | Cirque du Soleil
Ryokan
My legacy –
What will it be?
Flowers in spring,
The cuckoo in summer,
And the crimson maples
Of autumn … ~Ryokan (1758 – 1831)
Trans: J Stevens, Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf
a meditative journey 
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