• Haiku


    Little grasshopper,
    Climbing on a blade of grass,
    One blade in my yard.



    An autumn river,
    Full of Sakura petals,
    It flows before me.



    A rocky streamlet,
    Flowing through a copse of trees,
    How peaceful it is.



    A fire crackles,
    Filling the room with its heat,
    I sit before it.



    A blacksmith’s workshop,
    Filled with rhythmic hammering,
    Gorgeous swords are made.



    A sky full of clouds,
    Thunder booms in the distance,
    Rain drops start to fall.



    Sitting on a cliff,
    I find the meaning of life,
    With the sea before me.



    Within a deep cave,
    Lies a large sleeping dragon,
    Guarding its treasure.



    A lone white tiger,
    Moves through the bamboo forest,
    It makes the stalks sway.



    Fish swim in a stream,
    Close to the edge of the land,
    A bear catches one.



    Sun sets on the sea,
    A horse moves along the beach,
    Without a rider.



    In a town at dusk,
    A lost dog moves through the streets,
    Looking for its home.



    Soon after sunset,
    Moths take flight in the moonbeams,
    Bats catch their dinner.



    Moonlight floods the land,
    A wolf moves into the light,
    And howls at the moon.



    Dawn lights up the sea,
    Fish swim and shine gracefully,
    A new day begins.



    A hare leaves its hole,
    To the vegetable garden,
    And gets food to eat.



    The baby birds wake,
    Knowing that today they fly,
    With their mother’s help.



    A single mountain,
    One in a vast rolling range,
    Looms out of the fog.



    Frozen waterfall,
    Majestic in its beauty,
    Will soon melt away.



    The sun burns deep red,
    Turning the clouds light purple,
    The day turns to night.



    A burning ember,
    Falls onto the wooden floor,
    Glows red and dies out.



    A fly in my room,
    Its buzzing becomes a drone,
    And keeps me awake.



    In a moonlit marsh,
    The frogs sit on lily pads,
    And sing to the night.



    Owls sit in the trees,
    And gaze up into the moon,
    While a breeze goes by.



    The sun rises up,
    The rooster calls its greeting,
    And the farmer wakes.



    In the rice fields
    Farm boys help their father work,
    To feed the family.



    The priests go to pray,
    At their temple in the hills
    And sound the Doras*.



    *Doras are Japanese gongs.




    A small gentle brook,
    Filled with smooth rounded pebbles,
    A lotus floats by.



    Modest Shinto shrine,
    Hidden by Sakura trees,
    Inside someone prays.



    On the vast ocean,
    Fishermen draw in their nets,
    And soon head for home.