​In Kyoto.
​Hearing the tiny birds
​call for the day to begin.
​Morning meditation
​drifting from the temples.
​In this moment
​nothing is left
​out in the cold.

I arrived in Kyoto.
And set about climbing
Mount Inari.
Each step, I saw that
the sky is broad.
The sun is bright.
My fate has turned out well.
And my life lies
on the bare earth.
A poet in his time.
Elated by his catch.

Inside Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine.
People ask for wishes.
And the sky is illuminated.
Of this distressing world.
I wished for nothing more.
Than to remain clear
and transparent.

Today, today,
heaven and earth
are only names.
All of us that live
in the end shall die.
Well then, what
to make of this?
I will take pleasure
from calm and
knowing ways.
And forget the
weeping sake tears.

Like a flight of wild duck.
I wash my strains
and travel to Japan.
Clear and loud, I say.
If we should meet no more.
The bond between us
cannot be cut or slip.
We have seen the way.
And live on, not to weep
for a world of woes.
But to see a garden
of flowers once again.
​

In such a silent way.
I will travel again.
Bidding farewell
to the sultry days
that have kept
me company.
But I shall return.
With a thousand words
and varied sounds.
To know again a path
of truth and travelling.

The streets swirl.
Life moans in.
Moving with no cause.
I am grateful for whatever
and whoever comes my way.
Everything remains
a perpetual possibility.
If I want to go a little further.
Just pick my own road.
And with a wandering mind,
cast off what has
already been realized.
The struggle ceases.

You said to me
“Be empty of worrying”.
But sometimes it is not
easy to touch the moon.
So, I took a step.
Putting on hold
the notion of self.
With all those resentments,
and other afflictions.
Then I touched the clouds.
Again, and again.
For a moment,
I left birth-and-death
and everything in-between.
But this was enough
to follow a new way.

Walk to where
non-attachment begins.
Then sit and watch
as life rises and falls.
This is the best season
to share this moment.
This is the best place
to ride the winds
of uncertain times.
That chirp from a new beginning,
is already before you.

In a world that dwells in change.
One night’s dream.
Everything is fleeting.
A parting word by a death bed.
The melting snow
followed by blossom.
A summer fragrance that fades.
But my spirit is unbending
and unchanging.
Even when the dark days come.
And in the midst of nothingness.
I am at my best.
Life that once sunk deep into
my heart, now gives birth to shoots.
Swaying in the spring breeze.
​