All the birds have flown up and gone; A lonely cloud floats leisurely by. We never tire of looking at each other – Only the mountain and I. ~ Li Po

When despair grows in me and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the [...]

I have dreamed of you so much that you are no longer real. Is there still time for me to reach your breathing body, to kiss your mouth and make your dear voice come alive again? I have dreamed of you so much that my arms, grown used to being crossed on my chest as [...]

To grow old is to lose everything. Aging, everybody knows it. Even when we are young, we glimpse it sometimes, and nod our heads when a grandfather dies. Then we row for years on the midsummer pond, ignorant and content. But a marriage, that began without harm, scatters into debris on the shore, and a [...]

After Years Today, from a distance, I saw you walking away, and without a sound the glittering face of a glacier slid into the sea. An ancient oak fell in the Cumberlands, holding only a handful of leaves, and an old woman scattering corn to her chickens looked up for an instant. At the other [...]

Come to me in the silence of the night; Come in the speaking silence of a dream; Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright As sunlight on a stream; Come back in tears, O memory, hope, love of finished years. O dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet, Whose wakening should have [...]

All you who sleep tonight Far from the ones you love, No hand to left or right And emptiness above – Know that you aren’t alone The whole world shares your tears, Some for two nights or one, And some for all their years. ~ Vikram Seth

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again [...]

Don’t imitate me; it’s as boring as the two halves of a melon. Matsuo Basho Translated by Robert Hass

How do you like to go up in a swing, Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing Ever a child can do! Up in the air and over the wall, Till I can see so wide, River and trees and cattle and all Over the countryside – Till [...]

Sweet moment, stay with me, and pray do not flee so soon, Let me enjoy the bliss of that first kiss beneath the moon. I wish to cradle this feeling, that has only just been found, A feeling that has unexpectedly turned my world around. Do not depart, Oh please remain within my heart awhile, [...]

Floating majestically in the void, in the black Is a big blue ball with a weight on its back. To see it from up here it seems so serene But with the right ears you can hear its cold scream Move closer my friend and take a hard look See what they’re doing. See what [...]