haiku

~

from now on
a nameless traveler;
winter’s first rain

to the willow –
all hatred, and desire
of your heart

smell of autumn –
heart longs
for the four-mat room

veiled by grey showers,
mount Fiji, unseen
more beautiful today

still pond,
a frog jumps in
plop!

no oil to read by…
i am off to bed,
but ah! my moonlit bed

autumn –
even the birds
and clouds look old

after bells had rung and were silent
flowers chimed
a peal of fragrance

an autumn eve
there is joy too
in loneliness

by Basho

~

the world of dew
is the world of dew.
and yet, and yet

cuckoo sings
to me, to the mountain,
in turn

reflected
in the dragonfly’s eye –
mountains

under cherry trees
there are
no strangers

by Issa

~

four and fifty years
i’ve hung the sky with stars
now i leap through –
what shattering!

coming, going, the waterfowl
leaves not a trace,
nor does it need a guide

by Dogen

~

autumn wind –
across the fields,
faces

by Onitsura

~

twenty years a pilgrim,
footing east, west
back in seiken,
i’ve not moved an inch

by Chiju

Death poem

a rootless tree
yellow leaves scattering
beyond the blue –
cloudless, stainless

by Kyonin

~

serving the Shogun in the capital,
stained by worldly dust, i found no peace
now, straw hat pulled down, i follow the river:
how fresh the sight of gulls across the sand

by Kodo

~

fallen leaves –
raking,
yet not raking

beyond serenity,
grey kites
in twilight

by Taigi

~

returning
by an unused path –
violets

by Bakusui

~

barn’s burnt down –
now
i can see the moon

by Masahide

~

in this warm spring rain,
tiny leaves are
sprouting from the eggplant seed

a camellia dropped
down
into the water of a still, dark well

such a moon –
the thief
pauses to sing

short nap –
waking,
spring was gone

by Buson

~

the dragonfly
perches on the stick
raised to strike him

by Kokyo

~

leaf
of the yam —
raindrop's world

by Kikoso

~

when you're both alive and dead,
thoroughly dead to yourself,
how superb the smallest pleasure

Bunan

~

shrine gate
through morning mist –
a sound of waves

Kikaku

Zen saying

sitting quiet, doing nothing
spring comes, and the grass
grows by itself

~

the mountain – Buddha’s body
the torrent – his preaching
last night, eighty four thousand poems
how, how make them understand?

by Satoba

~

talking: seven steps, eight falls
silent: tripping once, twice
Zennists everywhere,
sit, let the mind be

by Shishin-Goshin

~

contending –
temple bell,
winter wind

by Kito

~

piled for burning,
brushwood
starts to bud

by Boncho