Short Poems

Finding out if there is hair
or not by groping.

A priest without
disciples shaves

A love beyond one's reach
is certainly ridiculous!

In bed behind
a young man
too tall for him!

The robe of haze
is soaked at the hem

Spring has come,
and the goddess Saohime
pisses where she stands.

With green stagnant eyes,
arms and legs
loose ends of string in a wind,

keep smiling at your father.

There are faint green mountains and far green waters,
And grasses in this river region not yet faded by autumn;
And clear in the moon on the Twenty-Four Bridges,
Girls white as jade are teaching flute-music.

All day long, said the Old Mandarin,
I closed myself in my study, to think;
And all day long
I was aware of the telephone in the next room
Coiled there like a rattlesnake
Ready to strike.

Capacious is the Church's belly;
Whole nations it has swallowed down,
Yet no dyspepsia 'neath its gown;
The Church alone, in jewels drest,
Your “tainted wealth” can quite digest.

O shining and wreathed in violets, city of singing,
stanchion of Hellas, glorious Athens,
citadel full of divinity.

green caterpillars—
one is crushed, while the other

Fair one, when you were here, I filled the house with flowers.
Fair one, now you are gone—only an empty couch is left.
On the couch the embroidered quilt is rolled up; I cannot sleep.
It is three years since you went. The perfume you left behind haunts me still.

The perfume strays about me forever, but where are you, Beloved?
I sigh—the yellow leaves fall from the branch,
I weep—the dew twinkles white on the green mosses.