the morning dew smiles
the rising sun stares deeply
later a merger
the egret stands fixed
wishing he was a statue
the rippling pond laughs
clouds blacken the sky
the sun plays hide and go seek
we watch patiently.
winter is lurking
but swaying palms reject it
it retreats northward
The sun rose this morning,
as if the day were not in any
way out of the ordinary, day
number far too large to count
for those with finite capacity.
The birds begin, their harmonious
cacophony, though they think
it their lauds, matins of reflection
burned off with the dew under
the gentle glare of a morning sun.
They watch us begin to stir,
imagine how it must be to live
cocooned in oddly symmetrical
boxes, venturing out but retreating
as though the sky was to be feared.
They do not ask how we could
so easily, remorselessly, lay waste
to our shared home, for they
have moved past mourning,
as we remain mired still in denial.
First appeared in The Poet: A New World, Autumn 2020
the morning dew smiles
the rising sun stares deeply
later a merger
the egret stands fixed
wishing he was a statue
the rippling pond laughs
If you are patient and do not
look for it, there is a still moment
in each day when nothing at all happens,
when the silence without
demands a silence within,
when thoughts evaporate
like the mist of an early morning dew,
when you have precisely enough
and cannot imagine needing more,
when where you are is where you must be,
when the past and future float off
and their gravitational pull on you breaks,
and you simply are in the only moment there is.
The sun creeps down city streets,
dew retreats from the grasses
and fills the air, with sweet scent
until spent, the bus passes.
The robin sits in the tree
as worms flee into the lawn.
The morning foretells the rain
that will slowly drain the dawn.
The city quietly wakes
and stretching, shakes off the sleep
it slowly comes back to life,
the sun a knife cutting deep.
Awakening in the morning
when you first see the sun
and the dew resting on thee leaf
which eye are you using.
When you stare into the mirror
through what eye do you see,
and what eyes stare back at you.
When you see the deer
lying in the road
which eye do you use.
In a nightmare, when you slip
into the deeper, darker world,
what eye is used then.
When a friend fades into death,
what eye sees his departure.
Think carefully on this
for only one eye can see
the answer lying within.
A reflection on case 67 of The Iron Flute (Tetteki Tōsui)
an entire flower
and a single rose petal
duplicate beauty
a whole universe
exists in a drop of dew
life evaporates
two crested ducks pay
no attention to people
offering nothing
an old writer and his words 