The colors of the flowers fade
as the long rain fall,
as lost in thought,
I grow older.
~Ono no Komachi*
*cited:
Women Poets of Japan
Trans: K Rexroth & I Atsumi
tanka
100 days…59th day
Does that bird
think of past times
as it flies, singing
over the shade in the spring…
of weeping willows?
black and white sunday: timeless
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:
100 days…38th day
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
100 days…37th day
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
weekly photo challenge: change
This pile of
fallen leaves
separates my hermitage
further and further
from the world of woe
~Rengetsu-ni
submitted for this week’s photo challenge: Change
out of the depths of the willow
Sweet and sad
like love overwhelmed
with long sighs,
out of the depths of the willow
little by little
the moon appears.
~Tosano Akiko*
5.1 mm f/9.1 1/30 sec ISO 80
6 mm f/8.5 1/20 sec ISO 80
*cited:
Women Poets of Japan
K Rexroth & I Atsumi
solitary evergreen
I can no longer tell dream from reality.
Into what world shall I awake
from this bewildering dream?
~Akazome Emon (?-1027)*
solitary evergreen
*cited:
Women Poets of Japan
K Rexroth & I Atsumi
floating
This body
grown fragile, floating,
a reed cut from its roots…
If a stream would ask me
to follow, I’d go, I think.
~Ono No Komachi*
Horsetooth Reservoir
*cited:
The Ink Dark Moon
J Hirshfield & M Aratani
watched you without a sound
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 Ukyo No Daibu*
*cited:
Women Poets of Japan
K Rexroth & I Atsumi
at times I hear…
One thousand peaks merge with frozen clouds;
ten thousand paths have no human trace.
Day by day just facing the wall,
at times I hear snow drift over the window.
~Ryokan*
*cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
Kazuaki Tanahashi
when i look at the moon…
When I look at the moon
I am overcome by the sadness
of a thousand, thousand things —
even though it is not Fall
for me alone.
~Oe no Chisato*
a meditative journey 
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