Zenrinkushu translated by R. Blyth
Nothing is certain.
Nothing can be guaranteed.
Not even nothing.
American Gothic
She dressed properly,
She spoke quietly,
She loved modestly,
She died peacefully.
Harmless, humble,
God's lamb…
Damn!
Supernova
Loss drives concealed love
To go supernova.
It blows its cover
With a flood of blinding light.
It bursts out,
Piercing space with rays of radiation.
It screams and screams,
Pressing hard against the walls of reality,
Pushing apart the boundaries
Of the universe.
Trees dreaming in winter
In deep winter the sleeping trees
Dream of branching out,
Spreading wider
Than the reach of their earthly life.
Their roots drink in the stillness that pools
Beneath all layers of the ground.
Their crowns bloom with constellations.
They hum and sing with winged beings
Who are tinier than the smallest insect,
Greater than the largest bird.
They drop their luminous fruit
Into the stream
That flows far beyond
The shores of the known world.
Soap bubble
God as a soap bubble:
Water, breath, form.
Sublime, radiant,
Evanescent, eternal,
Emerging again and again,
Beguiling the senses
With rainbow illusions,
Holding the light of existence
With perfect clarity.
Kingfisher
Indigo and russet dandy,