Moonlit plum tree –
wait,
spring will come.
128
Snowy morning –
one crow
after another.
129
Come, see real
flowers
of this painful world.
130
Morning-glory –
it, too,
turns from me.
131
Travel-weary,
I seek lodging –
ah, wistaria.
132
Come, let’s go
snow-viewing
till we’re buried.
Chrysanthemum
silence – monk
sips his morning tea.
134
Crow’s
abandoned nest,
a plum tree.
135
Melon
in morning dew,
mud-fresh.
136
Wintry day,
on my horse
a frozen shadow.
137
Summer moon –
clapping hands,
I herald dawn.
138
Drenched bush-clover,
passers-by –
both beautiful.
Harsh sound –
hail spattering
my traveller’s hat.
140
Lips too chilled
for prattle –
autumn wind.
141
Not one traveller
braves this road –
autumn night.
142
Withered grass,
under piling
heat-waves.
143
Phew –
dace-guts scent
waterweed.
144
June rain,
hollyhocks turning
where sun should be.
Journey’s end –
still alive, this
autumn evening.
146
How cold –
leek tips
washed white.
Firefly-viewing –
drunken steersman,
drunken boat.
148
Dewy shoulders
of my paper robe –
heat-waves.
149
Rainy days –
silkworms droop
on mulberries.
150
Still breathing
in an icy lump –
sea slugs.
Autumn moon,
tide foams to
the very gate.
Girl cat, so
thin on love
and barley.
Old pond,
leap-splash –
a frog.
154
Waterjar cracks –
I lie awake
this icy night.
155
Awaiting snow,
poets in their cups
see lightning flash.
Shrieking plovers,
calling darkness
around Hoshizaki Cape.
To the capital –
snow-clouds forming,
half the sky to go.
158
Dozing on horseback,
smoke from tea-fires
drifts to the moon.
159
Buddha’s death-day –
old hands
clicking rosaries.
Year’s end, all
corners of this
floating world, swept.
161
Autumn – even
birds and clouds
look old.
162
Cedar umbrella, off
to Mount Yoshino for
the cherry blossoms.