Come again,
if you don’t mind
pushing your way through
dewy eulalia blossoms
to reach this twig-bound hut.
~Ryokan (cited: K Tanahashi, Sky Above Great Wind)
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ryokan
Tag: Ryokan
meeting…parting
We meet and we part,
Coming and going — hearts like passing clouds.
Except for the marks of a frosty-hair brush,
human traces are hard to find.
~Ryokan (K Tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind)
autumn with Ryokan
This morning I will fetch water,
cut firewood,
and pick herbs
during a break
in this autumn shower.
~Ryokan
no trespassing
Again
I sneak into your garden
to eat arena berries.
(Please keep yourself hidden
until I go away!)
~Ryokan, cited in: K Tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind
During a recent photo walk, I found myself ignoring a “no trespassing” sign while silently rehearsing innocent detail. If I had not been somewhat oppositional, I would have missed this interesting chair being re-weaved by nature as well as a water lily pond and a kingfisher. Much the same as Ryokan, 190+ years ago, I found myself hoping the homeowners would keep themselves hidden until I went away.
wandering
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)
vulgar songs fill the days…
Customs become diluted year after year.
Both the noble and the common decline.
The human mind grows fragile with time;
the ancestral way becomes fainter day by day.
Teachers can’t see past the name of their school;
students enable their teachers’ narrow-mindedness.
They are glued to each other,
unwilling to change.
…
Thornbushes grow around high halls,
fragrant flowers wither in the weeds.
Vulgar songs fill the days.
Who will expound the luminous teaching?
Ah, I, a humble one,
have encountered this era.
When a great house is about to crumble,
a stick cannot keep it from falling.
Unable to sleep on a clear night,
I toss in bed, …
~Ryokan, 1796-1816 (K Tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind)
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)
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
