To lie drunk
on cobbles,
bedded in pinks.
Ise’s shrine –
what tree can give
such perfume?
93
Peony –.
the bee can’t bear
to part.
94
Has it returned,
the snow
we viewed together?
95
No moon, no flowers,
no friend –
and he drinks sake.
96
Unknown spring –
plum blossom
behind the mirror.
Autumn’s end –
how does my
neighbour live?
98
Village of no bells –
spring evenings,
what’s to listen for?
Old legs, still eager
for Yoshino’s
flowering slopes.
100
Octopus traps –
summer’s moonspun dreams,
soon ended.
101
Autumn winds –
look, the chestnut
never more green.
102
Flower under harvest
sun – stranger
to bird, butterfly.
No rice in the
gourd? Then try
a maiden flower.
104
No hat, and cold
rain falling –
well!
105
Lightning –
heron-cry
stabs darkness.
106
Fading bells –
now musky blossoms
peal in dusk.
107
Sudden sun upon
the mountain path,
plum scent.
108
Though bush-clover
always stirs,
not one dewdrop falls.
Mogami river, yanking
the burning sky
into the sea.
110
Cicada – did it
chirp till it
knew nothing else?
111
Rain-washed
camellia – as it
falls, showers.
112
Spring – through
morning mist,
what mountain’s there?
113
Noon doze,
wall cool against
my feet.
114
Beyond waves,
reaching far, the
cuckoo’s song.
Smell of autumn –
heart longs for
the four-mat room.
Temple bell,
a cloud of cherry flowers –
Ueno? Asakusa?
117
To the willow –
all hatred, and desire
of your heart.
118
Nothing more lonely –
heart-shaped
paulownia leaf.
119
‘Now darkness falls,’
quail chirps,
‘what use hawk-eyes?’
120
Atop the mushroom –
who knows from where –
a leaf!
Birth of art –
song of rice planters,
chorus from nowhere.
Cresting Lake Omi’s
seven misted views,
Miidera’s bells.
Over Benkei’s temple,
flashing Yoshitune’s
sword – May carp.
Cormorant fishing:
how stirring,
how saddening.
125
Skylark sings all
day, and day
not long enough.
126
Year’s end –
still in straw hat
and sandals.