A solitary crow
clings to a leafless branch:
nightfall
—Matsuo Basho
Unaware it protects
the hilltop paddies,
the scarecrow seems useless to itself.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen
Since time dawned
only the dead have experienced peace;
life is snow burning in the sun.
—Nandai
Like blocks in the icehouse,
unlikely to last
the year out...
—Sentoku
Having been summoned,
I say farewell
to my house beneath the moon.
—Takuchi
Learn to accept the inevitable:
the fall willow
knows when to abandon its leaves.
—Tanehiko
All evening the softest sound―
the cadence of the white camellia petals
falling
―Ranko Takakuwa
Stillness:
the sound of petals
drifting down softly together ...
―Miura Chora
White plum blossoms―
though the hour grows late,
a glimpse of dawn
―Yosa Buson
Returning
as it came,
this naked worm.
—Shidoken
There is no death, as there is no life.
Are not the skies cloudless
And the rivers clear?
—Taiheiki Toshimoto
All five aspects of my fleeting human form
And the four elements of existence add up to nothing:
I bare my neck to the unsheathed sword
And its blow is but a breath of wind ...
—Suketomo
Had I not known I was already dead
I might have mourned
my own passing.
—Ota Dokan
