kyoto notes

the moon and sun are eternal travelers. even the years wander on.

a lifetime adrift in a boat, or in old age leading a tired horse into the

years, every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.

mastuō basho / narrow road to the interior

in memory of jivan west

a sea stack

stands there alone

vastness without shore

sprawling waves

wash over you

starlit nights

illumine your face

it's summer time

murmur of branches

music for the roots

reaching far into where

passingness

the real

unreal

shimmers on a mirror

from breath

suspended

marusankaku shinkaku

emptiness and it’s

ten thousand islands

words given to the nameless

to name the speechless

distances fall

sounds arriving

l'univers

in memoriam maria englehart

morning

sitting next to no one

together listening to

the burble of the rain

eternal pilgrims

roads themselves

are true wayfarers

weary with loneliness

invent then give us a name

moon too may be their invention

pilgrim they call us

pilgrims

to what purpose your pilgrimage

they ask

as if we knew

as if they knew

but the moon

keeping attendance

of the long absentee

the meeting room

rock garden

tokofuji temple

in peace

they come here to age

the rocks

some point to the sky unbound

some leap beyond pointing

each day a bed of gravel

tells of their passage

through their kingdom

the sea

for now

the ephemeral is

here with us to stay

with fewer words than less

the unseen in the seen

time

a crow perched from a branch

beaming in her mantel of rain

in the description of the temple grounds

lost in the maze of names and dates

what has come to pass since long

floats a poem not many see

it is there

white on black

on closer look

the garden still retains

traces

of its ancient shadows

kennin-ji temple, kyoto

what is an island

inside an island

a question

question of what

are you seeing

the vastness around you

what is it

the sea

what is it the sea

a cypress dreaming

in the garden

when faces drop away

true face appears

what is true

the face of who

not to faced

not to be seen

your elders

never born

the ever born

fading peal of bells

in a sea of low clouds

disappearing

flight of a pair of crows

become a home leaver

your voice faint

in chiming bells

leaving returning

are not what home

not where home is

unlearning the difference

dew and morning grass

a single word

beaming

silence

single word

the dispensed

by words

is us

verses

go

roam freely in the

mountain now

peaks

lofty

far

right where you stand

in your fall

you have been reached

buddha's

ways

disappear

unbound

mottled

sky

awe

a beat skips the heart

what you lose

is the way to go

go

except that

except that they vanished

the noble paths

what is left

is what

what is

the glass breaks

where the pine drinks

shrouded in mist

mountain passes

beckon you down

dream paths

le poème est l'amour réalisé du désir demeuré désir - rené char

at the end of a path

stone strewn

a mirror

clouds trees

come here to bathe

we are what songbirds

may still remember

life long journey to see

to longing you belong

longing for what

home

peace of not seeking

seeking

wanting

peace

not given not

taken away

clear for now

the gate guardian doesn't

see the one passing through

rainclouds hover

above the garden

sudden

the crow's voice

shatters

the heart

rains begin to clear

whispers of pines

ripple on the page

not the ones you see

that carry you along

the fall below silence

no where to go

go

fellow travelers

whereto now from

this mountain top

lost in morning mist

clear

narrow

our path

this nowhere path we

tread together alone

konin-in temple, kyoto

heart scrolls

homage to all

misspoken words

as never and ever

intention is pure

can we reach to what

is beyond speaking and

scroll

as the heart

heart ache scroll

unrolls

words keep dropping

petals falling away

seasons of the wind

now abloom

way

seeking

mind

pine needles scatter on the ground

in the glow

plants' shadows deepen

we the forsaken

for the sake

of vows

august 13

back then

back now

millenium turned toddler

what name shall i give you

he asks

vagond

he writes the name

on a piece of cloth

erring cloud

hair fly away

back then

back now

name and robe

hang from a wall

the sitting still sits

you walk away

body mind left behind

for the left behind

matsudo basho / translated by makoto uedo

akebono ya

shirauo shiroki

koto issun

a whitefish with an inch

òf whiteness

in the morning twilight

__________________________________________

the whitefish you saw once

is a blackfish now

this eye that passes

an inch of daylight

stillness comes with its light

come with your pittance you

in darkness we meet

eyelids

open

jianyuan tapped the coffin and asked, "alive or dead?" daowu replied, "i won't say alive, and I won't say dead." case 55 blue cliff record

ashes of whom 

laid to to rest

rainwaters

the rest of tomorrow

the time of

who is gone 

is now

travels

entrusted to urns

kept safe

of names' erring

what do they

do we know

mūchu setsumu

"explaining a dream within a dream" is all buddhas eihei dōgen

dearest

dream waves

keep crashing

your voice now

the voice of roars

precipice

where we all stand

cherished by memory

by the gone gone

other shores

svāhā

hōjōki / kamo no chōmei

the moon of my life is waning

setting gently behind the hills

__________________________________

water lilies' sleep

keeps spilling over us

friend

we are ripples gone on travel

you reply

ami

le sommeil des nénuphars

nous comble

nous sommes pour

peu que je voie

ondes en périple

tu réponds

back and forth

movement of cracks

then a circle of flame

passages we see

are in but not of time

times when it takes

the shape of our lives

the warmth we feel in the hand

when we greet

then our karma too

if all else is intertwined

omikuji

fortune may well run out

many unbidden

blessings of the wind

time to return now

to the it's nowhere

and everywhere

abode

ahead

this broken pathway

where a poem that

dreams in white

beckons

invites you

to

wondrous dharma

to silence you offer your voice

myriad voices she offers back

for you to keep

speak