from Lotus Moon
Blackened Thing
Another year passes:
On my kitchen shelf
Something blackened
With soot —
A little Buddha image.
Seeing Young Nuns On
Their Begging Rounds
First steps on the
Long path to Truth:
Please do not dream
Your lives away,
Walk on to the end.
When People Tease Me About My
Constant Change Of Residence
A floating cloud,
Drifting about
Playfully
Here and there
Not wanting to fade away.
The Oni
Do not resist, (Mr. Onu):
Open the lotus inside
And overturn
All those demons
In your heart!
Heart
Coming and going,
Without beginning or end,
Like ever changing
White clouds:
The heart of things.
The Pleasures of Calligraphy
Taking up the brush
Just for the joy of it,
Writing on and on,
Leaving behind
Long lines of dancing letters.
Incense Burner
A single line of
Fragant smoke
From the incense stick
Trails off without a trace:
One's heart, as well?
A Life of Retirement
Reside in a living landscape
And it becomes yours:
Daikon dry along the fence,
Trees full of chestnuts
Brush against the eaves.
Thoughts While Making
A Flower Pot
Dew and butterflies are
Attracted to flowers of
Certain scent and color:
Do they have
Favorites too?
Digging Clay And Making A Vase
Taking the fragile
Little handmade
Things to sell —
How lonely it looks
In the market place!
_________________
Lotus Moon
Rengetsu
translated by John Stevens
White Pine Press
2005
