Haiku

 

32

Silent house! Darkness!

Children breathing softly. Wind. . .

Outside in the night.

 

31

Sun on my shoulder

And little clouds going west.

Fern in the shadows.

 

20

A tinny bugle

Call comes down. These silent dead

And troops departed.

After Matsuo Basho

 

7

Her needle pauses,

Eyes searching the empty sea.

A wind is rising.

 

1

The tree is dying

on its hill. The sky gathers,

Silent and angry.

 

40

Captured in sunlight

a waterfall on black rocks.

Bright trellis of mist.

 

41

Ripples in brown grass

the wind rising with twilight.

Darkness will bring snow.

 

42

Thunderstorms gather

over the distant mountains:

rumors of lightning.

 

45

The river flows past

roots in the stream. A willow

bows to the water.

 

46

Mist over marsh grass

twilight settling. A crow

silent in his tree.

 

49

Shadows on a wall

in the afternoon sunlight.

First leaves of autumn.

 

50

From an upper room

red tile roofs, open windows,

a woman yawning.

 

52

Above the valley

a sunlit pebble tumbles.

The forest listens.

 

54

Curtains pulled away

from an open window. Sun

on a pretty face.

 

54

Light on the dark shore

Voices over the water.

A path of ripples.

 

56

Sun through summer rain

splashing on dusty sidewalks.

Small children shrieking.

 

57

Grassy meadow high

between the rocks; green carpet

my feet cannot touch.

 

58

Swimming at midnight

suspended over blackness;

bright moon on ripples.

 

59

Aspen leaves scattered

over a hillside. Wind brings

the odor of snow.

 

62

Birds settling in trees

mist growing at the roadside;

a long way to go.

 

64

Starlight on the sill

traveling a billion years

to reach my window.

 

65

Old cemetery

plastic flowers on a grave;

a dog sniffs the ground

 

66

Beneath the aspens

a bright leaf on the river.

October sunlight.

 

67

Firelight on faces

at a late-night carnival;

flash of youth; of time.

 

68

On a fragrant breeze

flowers blooming in darkness.

A whippoorwill calls.