​(Shinkansen Kobe – Tokyo)
​
​The Shinkansen to Tokyo.
​Happiness and sadness
​come and go.
​Outside the clouds gather.
​But I can still here
​the temple bells of Kobe.
​Saturating the soul.

​Summer sun.
If you have any compassion
you will give me shade.
Then I can give a lift.
To the mosquito
resting on my hat.
Who has decided to
travel with me today.
​

​
​In Kobe
​the air remains still.
​Walking the streets
​I came across a temple.
​”Ikuta Jin Ja”,
​a local said.
​Stopping for while.
​I thought.
​This is a place for
​warriors dreams.
​And listening to
​the cicadas hum.

In mid – summer.
I head to Kobe.
Towards the sea
and bright steel.
There are no streaks
of sorrow on this journey.
Just a simple way
to flow into the world.

​
​At the end of summer.
​When the cicadas
​have ceased their mantra.
​I will look back on
my time in Nara.
​Asking myself was I
​alive or dead?
​From early morning until
​the silky humid evenings.
​My mind and body
​was alive to a
different world.
A world of solitude
and non-attachment.
​The path was clear.
​To live and continue
to wander.

Beneath the high sky.
Where I slept.
A withered place.
Shut in for the summer.
But only sleeping.
Like many of us.
Just waiting for
the winter walkers
to come again.

On a warm and
humid summers day
I find myself in Nara.
What will I find?

Noisy cicadas freed
from all fear and eternal law.
Deer who think
the mind is everything.

Or the Buddhas eyes.
Folded under a
piercing sun.
Yet still gazing
at all the glory.

A birthday wish.
All alone in Kyoto.
I think not.
I’ll pass the day
like any other.
Like the first
dream of the year.
Floating clouds
and the Buddha’s
final nirvana.
My birthday in Kyoto.

Day #7: Kyoto
​

​In Kyoto.
Summer is here.
A different summer.
The world lives
vividly again.
And stable births are
once more celebrated.
I am grateful
for this small bliss.
For I have come
a long way.

​When the east
​and west winds
​blow together.
​It can grow dark.
Then a thousand
birds twitter.
Reminding us all
That in the end.
The moon and the sun
go on shining.
And in this
world of ours.
There is but
one single heart.
​