The Bush Warbler Idling

The Bush Warbler Idling

Seeping through the haze,
the voice
of the bush warbler --
few people passing,
mountain village in spring.


Saigyo

Winds Of Autumn

Winds Of Autumn

Even in a person
most times indifferent
to things around him
they waken feelings
the first winds of autumn

Saigyo

unbroken gloom.

unbroken gloom.

times when unbroken
gloom is over all our world
over which still
sits the ever brilliant moon
sight of it casts me down more

Saigyo

Thought I was free

Thought I was free


Thought I was free
of passion, so this melancholy
comes as surprise:
a woodcock shoots up from the marsh
where autumn's twilight falls.

Saigyo

There's not a trace of cloud

There's not a trace of cloud

There's not a trace of cloud
Now-and she
Is in my thoughts;
The moon and my heart
Seem to waver.

Saigyo

The Monk Saigyo

The Monk Saigyo


Should I blame the moon
For bringing forth this sadness,
As if it pictured grief?
Lifting up my troubled face,
I regard it through my tears

Saigyo

Sunk in melancholy

Sunk in melancholy


Sunk in melancholy, and
Gazing
Upon the moon: its hue:
Why is it so deeply
Stained with sadness, I wonder

Saigyo

O, how sad

O, how sad

O, how sad!
Why of visitors
Should there be not one?
In melancholy, where I dwell
The wind comes upon the bush-clover leaves.

Saigyo

Not Stopping To Mark The Trail

Not Stopping To Mark The Trail

Not stopping to mark the trail,
let me push even deeper
into the mountain!
Perhaps there's a place
where bad news can never reach me!

Saigyo

limitations gone

limitations gone

limitations gone
since my mind fixed on the moon
clarity and serenity
make something for which
there's no end in sight

Saigyo

In a mountain village

In a mountain village

In a mountain village
at autumn’s end—
that’s where you learn
what sadness means
in the blast of the wintry wind.

Saigyo

How wonderful

How wonderful


How wonderful, that
Her heart
Should show me kindness;
And of all the numberless folk,
Grief should not touch me.

Saigyo

Having Seen Them Long

Having Seen Them Long

Having seen them long,
I hold the flowers so dear
That when they scatter
I find it all the more sad
To bid them my last farewell.

Saigyo

Having drifted apart

Having drifted apart


Having drifted apart,
Why should folk
Despise each other? For
Not known and unknowing
Times there were once before…

Saigyo

As banked clouds

As banked clouds


As banked clouds
are swept apart by the wind,
at dawn the sudden cry
of the first wild geese
winging across the mountains.

Saigyo

moonviewing

moonviewing

Quite the contrary
to what I’d thought, passing clouds
are sometimes simply
the moon’s entertainment,
its lovely decoration.

Saigyo