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*
*cited:
life’s passages … 44
waka
life’s passages … 41
If I should live long,
Then perhaps the present days
May be dear to me,
Just as past time filled with grief
Comes quietly back in thought.
~Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
life’s passages … 21
Listen, listen
longing and loss.
In the struck bell’s
recurrent calling,
no moment in which to forget.
~Izumi Shikibu (J Hirsfield & M Aratani, The Ink Dark Moon)
Nikon D750 f/2/2 1/800 s 35 mm ISO 100
sunday morning with akazome emon
I can no longer tell dream from reality.
Into what world shall I awake.
From this bewildering dream? ~Akazome Emon*
Akazome Emon (956-1041) was a member of the great group of women poets, roughly contemporary with Murasaki and the author of the Eiga-Monogatari, the story of the supremacy of the Fujiwara, an unusual type of book for a Japanese woman to write at any time.
*cited: Trans and Edited by K Rexroth and I Atsumi. The Burning Heart Women Poets of Japan.
As banked clouds
are swept apart
by the wind at dawn
the cry of the first wild geese
winging over the mountain ~Saigyo*
Sony RX1003 … F/3.5 … 1/100s … 8.8 mm … 80 ISO
*cited: Trans: Burton Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home
weekend sky
Beyond the clouds
My gaze goes on and on;
The endless sea:
What lies beyond is unknown
As my gloomy thoughts…
~Lord Suetsune (cited: http://www.wakapoetry.net)
sparrow… Apple iPad f/1.8 1/12000s 20 ISO
Weekend skies with Hammad Rais
past times…
If I should live long,
Then perhaps the present days
May be dear to me,
Just as past time filled with grief
Comes quietly back in thought.
~Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
Initially posted on October 9, 2017
skyscape
In such a place
Why do they bloom,
These maidenflowers?
Though people’s tongues
Are full of malice in this world.. ~ Henjo (cited: waka poetry)
skyscape photography: Nikon D750 f/5.6 1/125 125mm 400 ISO
mirrors
“Our mind is a painter, it paints all kinds of wonderful things, which are nothing more than the objects of our imagination. We create images to love, to crave, to be angry with, and to hate. It is our mind, our perceptions, that create these images. All perceptions are wrong perceptions. If a perception is not wrong, we call it understanding or wisdom.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh (The Other Shore)
Alas! the waving moss deceived your vision.
The clear mirror* is never tarnished:
Therefore look deep. ~ Lady Sakyo (Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
*The mirror is the symbol of the soul of a Japanese woman
if only…
Last year’s
fragile, vanished snow
is falling now again–
if only seeing you
could be like this. ~Izumi Shikibu (J Hirshfield & M Aratant, The Ink Dark Moon)
izumi shikibu
I’ve traveled
that dark path to the world
which comes down from this mountain
just to see you
one last time.
~Izumi Shikibu (J Hirshfield & M Aratani, The Ink Dark Moon)
Interstate I-70 Western Colorado… Nikon D750 f/7.1 1/800s 85mm 100 ISO
omoro gojusshu
In which direction
Should head my longing?
On an autumn night
The skies are full of
The moon’s light... Omoro Gojusshu (www.wakapoetry.net)
a meditative journey 
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