Short Poems

Why have I been allotted
so many years and months
in this world
where those here even yesterday
are no longer here today?

Adding one more
to the graves
at the foot of Boat Hill,
we make you
“someone of the past”

Our prime minister made a fast move!
he jumped across the stream beside his gate

Lonely and not quite lonely:
turning against the world, he lives in a hut but he's got money

Worthy and not worthy of our respect:
the monk downed a bird with prayer, then devoured it!

Squeezing it slender, I slip it in quickly:
the tea bag's too large for the tea jar's small mouth

Thirsty—that's how Mount Fuji makes you feel:
coming out on the beach of Tago, I look, and there isn't even a tea-shop

I'm mortified and yet delighted:
someone has run away with the old woman I couldn't leave

I want and don't want to cut it down:
what hides the clear moon is a branch of cherry blossoms

I want and don't want to slash him:
the burglar I caught turns out to be my son