Outside this office, night such luminous depths,
the lovely moon’s a delight wandering with me.
Descending across the river, it comes halfway
adrift on dew-tinged air, then suddenly startles
autumn, scattering color through open forests,
scrawling its disk on the current’s utter clarity.
And reaching mind, it bestows boundless light
all silver-pure azure eluding us to perfection.
translated by David Hinton
I see a cloud at day’s end and just can’t look away.
It has no mind at all, no mind and surely no talent:
a sad flake of bright jade radiant with color, drifting
ten thousand miles of clear sky, nowhere it began.
translated by David Hinton
On bamboo leaves and rooftops the autumn dew is clear
vermilion strings and jade harmonics multiply old feelings
Calling Crow and Departing Cranes are tunes I somehow recognize
containing as they do the sounds of a breaking heart
translated by Red Pine
The fire ban darkens an auspicious day
I still feel the pain of our parting
seeing these flower-covered fields
reminds me of the trails of Tuling
when will we ride together again
I’m feeling much older today
translated by Red Pine
NOTE: Cold Food Day occurred 150 days after Winter Solstice (late spring). This is in the commentary by Red Pine.
Taking time off in the enervating heat
we drifted in a skiff along the city moat
a light wind blew open our robes
a flute echoed through the woods
thin clouds darkened the water
a fine rain cooled the lotus-scented air
rather than pour out our cares
we raised our cups to the flowers
translated by Red Pine
You came with New Year’s greetings
walking here alone in the bitter cold
knocking on a bamboo temple gate at night
covered with snow from your hike through the hills
after starting a fire deep in my stove
and closing the door to my empty room
we shared a gourd full of wine
and didn’t speak of all the things that went wrong
translated by Red Pine
Breach cut in green-moss earth,
it steals a distant flake of sky.
White clouds emerge in mirror;
fallen moon shines below stairs.
translated by David Hinton
My long-ago life rises into lone thoughts
and drifts windblown–too much for me.
Shoreline sounds echo night restlessly.
Cold lamplight thick with snow glistens.
Three years–a dream so bright and real,
thread stretching away into the furthest
distances. Dawn light on Ch’u Mountain:
no need to climb those wide-open heights.
translated by David Hinton
It seems the fiercest love is no love at all, in the end.
Sipping wine together, we feel nothing now but absent
smiles. Candles, at least, still have hearts. They grieve
over goodbye, cry our tears for us until dawn-lit skies.
translated by David Hinton
Everywhere petals are flying
And Spring is fading. Ten thousand
Atoms of sorrow whirl away
In the wind. I will watch the last
Flowers as they fade, and ease
The pain in my heart with wine.
Two kingfishers mate and nest in
The ruined river pavilion.
Stone unicorns, male and female,
Guard the great tomb near the park.
After the laws of their being,
All creatures pursue happiness.
Why have I let an official
Career swerve me from my goals?
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Being Present for the Moment
Website storys
Illustration, Concept Art & Comics/Manga
Singer, Songwriter and Author from Kyoto, Japan.
Singer, Songwriter and Author from Kyoto, Japan.
An online activist from Bosnia and Herzegovina, based in Sarajevo, standing on the right side of the history - for free Palestine.
A place where I post unscripted, unedited, soulless rants of a insomniac madman
Finding Inspiration
Off the wall, under the freeway, over the rainbow, nothin' but net.
A virtual cabaret of songs, stories and questionable life choices.
Artist by choice, photographer by default, poet and author by accident.
At Least Trying Too
A Journey of Spiritual Significance
Life in islamic point of view
Through the view point of camera...
L'essenziale è invisibile e agli occhi e al cuore. Beccarlo è pura questione di culo
In Kate's World
Leonard Durso 