cuckoo in Tokyo

Like the cuckoo
A subway conductor sings
'Okubo... Okubo...'

Hiding

Daffodils
Hiding
The trash bins.

sword

The glittering sword
Which shows no remorse
For the lips it's kissed.

honor

pink

A pink rug
Under the Subaki tree
Says, remove shoes!

rabbits

Forever is home
To rabbits in Osaka 
Station.

chopsticks!

How many trees have
YOU eaten 
Chopsticks!

hotel

This hotel room
Doesn't care 
If it rains or shines.

artists!

whistle

Not to be confused,
The cuckoo and whistle train-
Kyoto dawn.

cemetery

Tending the rice field
And the cemetery below,
Husband and wife.

rain

To miss the cherry blooms

After the rains, 

Alas, Kyoto spring!

petals

Cherry petals,

The littered streets make

Sweepers smile.

handmade

Tokyo

In Japan
Touching ceilings
Everywhere.

sheets

Hotel sheets
Open windows
Smelling rain.

perfume

This shrouded moon,
If it were perfume
It would be you!

fog

Thick fog-
Is that a lightbulb
Or the morning moon?

mirror mirror

Each day I glance  
At the wall 
Where a mirror once was.

Golf!

nightingale

This evening
First nightingale
Fell from heaven.

plum

The moon tonight,
So big, it split the plum tree
In half.

sparrows

In the acacia tree
Two sparrows look for roof-
April rain.

blossom

'Poetry is nice'
I say to the cherry blossom
'But, one has to eat!'

spider

The house empties,
Too bashful to make a web-
The lonely spider.

Marcus Aurelius

Take care not to be Caesarified, or dyed in purple: it happens. So keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, unpretentious, a friend of justice, god-fearing, kind, full of affection, strong for your proper work. Strive hard to remain the same man that philosophy wished to make you. Revere the gods, look after men. Life is short. The only harvest of existence on earth is a godly habit of mind and social action.


from Meditations, Book 6, 30
Marcus Aurelius,

tulips

Closing up shop
After a day's work-
Red tulips.

Japan again