32
Silent house! Darkness!
Children breathing softly. Wind. . .
Outside in the night.
31
Sun on my shoulder
And little clouds going west.
Fern in the shadows.
20
A tinny bugle
Call comes down. These silent dead
And troops departed.
After Matsuo Basho
7
Her needle pauses,
Eyes searching the empty sea.
A wind is rising.
1
The tree is dying
on its hill. The sky gathers,
Silent and angry.
40
Captured in sunlight
a waterfall on black rocks.
Bright trellis of mist.
41
Ripples in brown grass
the wind rising with twilight.
Darkness will bring snow.
42
Thunderstorms gather
over the distant mountains:
rumors of lightning.
45
The river flows past
roots in the stream. A willow
bows to the water.
46
Mist over marsh grass
twilight settling. A crow
silent in his tree.
49
Shadows on a wall
in the afternoon sunlight.
First leaves of autumn.
50
From an upper room
red tile roofs, open windows,
a woman yawning.
52
Above the valley
a sunlit pebble tumbles.
The forest listens.
54
Curtains pulled away
from an open window. Sun
on a pretty face.
54
Light on the dark shore
Voices over the water.
A path of ripples.
56
Sun through summer rain
splashing on dusty sidewalks.
Small children shrieking.
57
Grassy meadow high
between the rocks; green carpet
my feet cannot touch.
58
Swimming at midnight
suspended over blackness;
bright moon on ripples.
59
Aspen leaves scattered
over a hillside. Wind brings
the odor of snow.
62
Birds settling in trees
mist growing at the roadside;
a long way to go.
64
Starlight on the sill
traveling a billion years
to reach my window.
65
Old cemetery
plastic flowers on a grave;
a dog sniffs the ground
66
Beneath the aspens
a bright leaf on the river.
October sunlight.
67
Firelight on faces
at a late-night carnival;
flash of youth; of time.
68
On a fragrant breeze
flowers blooming in darkness.
A whippoorwill calls.
