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 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
Stretched out,
Tipsy,
Under the vast sky:
Splendid dreams
Beneath the cherry blossoms.
 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
This world
A fading
Mountain echo
Void and
Unreal

Within
A light snow
Three Thousand Realms
Within those realms
Light snow falls

As the snow
Engulfs my hut
At dusk
My heart, too
Is completely consumed
 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
To kindle a fire,
the autumn winds have piled
a few dead leaves.
 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
Like the little stream
Making its way
Through the mossy crevices
I, too, quietly
Turn clear and transparent.
 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
Midsummer --
I walk about with my staff.
Old farmers spot me
And call me over for a drink.
We sit in the fields
using leaves for plates.
Pleasantly drunk and so happy
I drift off peacefully
Sprawled out on a paddy bank.
 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
How can I possibly sleep
This moonlit evening?
Come, my friends,
Let’s sing and dance
All night long.
 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
An old grave hidden away at the foot of a deserted hill,
Overrun with rank weeds growing unchecked year after year;
There is no one left to tend the tomb,
And only an occasional woodcutter passes by.
Once I was his pupil, a youth with shaggy hair,
Learning deeply from him by the Narrow River.
One morning I set off on my solitary journey
And the years passed between us in silence.
Now I have returned to find him at rest here;
How can I honor his departed spirit?
I pour a dipper of pure water over his tombstone
And offer a silent prayer.
The sun suddenly disappears behind the hill
And I’m enveloped by the roar of the wind in the pines.
I try to pull myself away but cannot;
A flood of tears soaks my sleeves.
 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
My house is buried in the deepest recess of the forest
Every year, ivy vines grow longer than the year before.
Undisturbed by the affairs of the world I live at ease,
Woodmen’s singing rarely reaching me through the trees.
While the sun stays in the sky, I mend my torn clothes
And facing the moon, I read holy texts aloud to myself.
Let me drop a word of advice for believers of my faith.
To enjoy life’s immensity, you do not need many things.
 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
My legacy --
What will it be?
Flowers in spring,
The cuckoo in summer,
And the crimson maples
Of autumn...
 Jul 2015 Jiko-san
Taigu Ryokan
The thief left it behind:
the moon
at my window.
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