Short Poems

a strange flower
for birds and butterflies
the autumn sky

With a cup of wine, listening to songs of new words,
In the same pavilion tower and last year's weather.
The sun is setting in the west, but when will it return?
Nothing can be done about flowers falling away,
The swallows, seeming acquaintances, are coming back.
Along fragrant paths of the little garden I alone pace to and fro.

When you channel surf

take care that your mind

doesn’t drown.

Well, then! How'd you like to bear the name of Butler
As an honor badge eight centuries at least,
And then have the Prohibitionists inform you
That a butler is a sort of outlawed beast?

How wonderful, that
Her heart
Should show me kindness;
And of all the numberless folk,
Grief should not touch me.

How wild the sea is,
and over Sado Island,
the River of Heaven

My heart cries for you;
You can't hear that cry.
My eyes wet with dew;
Before you see, it gets dry.

Tell me, o Dove,
How shall I prove my love?

How much
are you enjying yourself,
tiger moth?


Translated by Robert Hass

How long will you think about this painful life?
How long will you think about this harmful world?
The only thing it can take from you is your body.
Don't say all this rubbish and stop thinking.

I steeled my nerves to brave God.
I strengthened my will to capture God.
I stilled my mind to welcome God.
I emptied my heart to treasure God.

[Excerpt from “The Dance of Life Part 1”]