Standing quietly by the fence,
you smile your wondrous smile.
I am speechless, and my senses are filled
by the sounds of your beautiful song,
beginningless and endless.
I bow deeply to you.
~Quach Thoai (describing the appearance of a dahlia: Thich Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves)
images submitted in response to Lost in Translation’s photo challenge.
Purple butterflies
fly at night through my dreams.
Butterflies, tell me,
have you seen in my village
the falling flowers of the wisteria?
~Yosano Akiko*
Sleeping Enya submitted in response to Lost in Translation’s photo challenge
*cited:
Women Poets of Japan
K Rexroth & I Atsumi
Chaos … an appropriate description for Enya, an Irish Terrier, when her visits to the groomer have been delayed.
head pillowed on arm,
such affection for myself?
and this smoky moon
~Buson*
*cited in
The Sound of Water
Trans: Sam Hamill
Is my mind elsewhere
Or has it simply not sung?
Hototogisu
~Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693)*
Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life. Another multi-photo challenge! Make sure you include picture captions to explain to people what they’re seeing, and experiment with the tiled galleries.
*Hototogisu, translated as cuckoo, wood thrush and sometimes nightingale.
The bird’s song is a strong but mournful cry.
It is said to die after singing 8,008 times.
It is also known as the “bird of time,”
“messenger of death” and “bird of disappointed love,”
and flies back and forth from this world to the next.
Confucian axiom: If one’s mind is elsewhere, one will look but not see, listen but not hear
cited in:
The Classic Tradition of Haiku
Edited by: Faubion Bowers
