A stick of incense stands by my pillow.
When the lantern dims, I pour some oil.
I add more clothes as the night deepens.
If you don’t mind my bare hospitality,
please keep wandering in.
~Ryokan (K Tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind)
tanka
put it aside
Bell Deer Mountain
I shake off this sad world,
put it aside,
but, what lies in store for me,
what note will I sound?
~Saigyo (B Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)
looking back
How have I spent
these many years and months
in this world
where those here even yesterday
are no longer here today?
~Saigyo (B Watson: Poems of a Mountain Home)
wpc: textures
Across the face of the field
wilted grasses
darken
the chill clouding-over
of a sudden storm sky
~Saigyo (B Watson: Poems of a Mountain Home)
twilight bell
The twilight bell
I waited for
is sounding —
if tomorrow is granted me,
I’ll listen for it again.
~Saigyo (B Watson: Poems of a Mountain Home)
moon painting
Won’t you sing?
I will get up and dance.
How can I sleep
with the timeless
moon this evening?
~Ryokan (K Tanahashi: Sky Above, Great Wind)
glimmer
In the mountain shade,
water in the moss
drips between rocks.
I feel a glimmer of clarity.
~Ryokan (K Tanahashi: Sky Above, Great Wind)
black & white sunday: after and before
See and realize
that this world
is not permanent.
Neither late nor early flowers
will remain.
~Ryokan (K Tanahashi: Sky Above, Great Wind)
An early summer morning in Poudre Canyon…submitted in response to Lost in Translation’s photo challenge
cache la poudre river
If someone asks
where I live,
say:
“The farthest end of
the heavenly river shore.”
~Ryokan (K Tanahashi, Sky Above Great Wind)
Cache la Poudre River
The headwaters of the Cache la Poudre River, also known as the Poudre River, are in the Front Range in Larimer County. The river descends from the northern part of Rocky Mountain National Park through the Poudre Canyon before it meanders across the plains of northeastern Colorado on it’s journey towards the South Platte River.
The name of the river (French for “Hide the Powder”) is a corruption of the original Cache a la Poudre or “cache of powder”. It refers to an incident in the 1820s when French trappers, buried part of their gunpowder along the banks of the river during a snowstorm.
cited: wikipedia
thoughts
Would the flames of thought
that envelop your body
ever be quenched?
Never but of the blowing
of these cool winds.
~Saigyo (B Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)
in place of morn’ dew
regrets as I may,
even the bell
has a different sound now,
and soon frost will fall
in place of morning dew
~Saigyo (B. Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)
belt of orien
belt of orien
in the dark sky
a silent reminder. . .
but if, gazing at it, we just reminisce
our three hearts may meet
a meditative journey 
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