Some haiku that I have enjoyed
The snow of yesterday
That fell like cherry blossoms
Is water once again
On the beaten path
a million lonely raindrops
gently reunite
Silence implies end
but leaves ambiguity
where a hope smoulders
Snow under my boots
Soundtrack to all of my steps
Winter symphony
I craft poems in bed
As the night unfurls itself
I count syllables
From time to time
The clouds give rest
To the moon-beholders.
- Matsuo Bashō
Over the wintry
forest, winds howl in rage
with no leaves to blow.
- Natsume Soseki
Another day gone
What have I actually done?
I guess I’ll just sleep.
You survived today!
Productivity does not
Define a life’s worth
Contemplate this thought
you will not get this day back
the room went silent
The rain’s lullaby
kept me awake, as it sang
on the rusty roof
The lamp once out
Cool stars enter
The Window frame
- Natsume Soseki
All thoughts forgotten
But those which I drink to lose
I try again
A summer river being crossed
how pleasing
with sandals in my hands!
Like a summer breeze
You surround me, fleetingly
But cannot be seen
Snowflakes on my hair
Bones creaking, body heaving
Snowflakes on my chair
Over-ripe sushi,
The Master
Is full of regret.
- Yosa Buson
In the cicada’s cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die.
- Matsuo Bashō
Winter seclusion
Listening, that evening,
To the rain in the mountain.
- Kobayashi Issa
I kill an ant
and realize, my three children
have been watching.
- Kato Shuson
First autumn morning
the mirror I stare into
shows my father’s face.
- Murakami Kijo
Autumn moonlight
A worm digs silently
into the chestnut.
A summer river being crossed
how pleasing
with sandals in my hands!
Light of the moon
Moves west, flowers’ shadows
Creep eastward.
In the moonlight,
The color and scent of the wisteria
Seems far away.
spring rain:
browsing under an umbrella
at the picture-book store
“A world of dew,
And within every drewdrop
A world of struggle”
Good morning my love
I can’t believe you’re not here
good mourning indeed
Oh how fast thy fly
Soaring right before our eye
Twelve months of my year
I became the storm
when all I ever wanted
was to shelter you
When I was thunder
you, unafraid, understood
and dressed as the sky
Thousand miles apart
Two souls searched for a meaning
They found each other
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