Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
that you were my life!
—Shuho
Our world of dew
is a world of dew indeed;
and yet, and yet ...
― Kobayashi Issa
Both victor and vanquished are dewdrops:
flashes of light
briefly illuminating the void.
—Ouchi Yoshitaka
Like dew glistening
on a lotus leaf,
so too I soon must vanish.
—Shinsui
Let this body
be dew
in a field of wildflowers.
—Tembo
My aging body:
a drop of dew
bulging at the leaf-cliff.
—Kiba
Like a lotus leaf’s evaporating dew,
I vanish.
—Senryu
This world?
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen
Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last?
—Eihei Dogen Kigen
Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before dawn;
may an untimely wind not hasten their departure!
—Eihei Dogen Kigen
Dewdrops beading blades of grass
have so little time to shine before dawn;
let the autumn wind not rush too quickly through the field!
—Eihei Dogen Kigen
Outside my window the plums, blossoming,
within their curled buds, contain the spring;
the moon is reflected in the cup-like whorls
of the lovely flowers I gather and twirl.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen
