Bonsai of Thought: One Hundred

1. Some dance
for weddings.
Others marry
for the dancing.

2. Time that knows no pause,
hands that wear no watch,
feet that bear no chains,
cages where no one dwells...

3. I looked again, more carefully.
Was I caught in a trap?
Or did I mistake freedom itself
for the snare?

4. Night hides away
when the setting sun
lights the lamps
in parks and streets.

5. When darkness falls
birds return to their nests.
The few that don't return—
we know them by name.

6. Crickets call out,
flower to flower,
in their echoing
lovers grow fragrant.

7. What brings no peace
can never be love;
rather, something else
masquerading as love.

8. They live
not for each other,
but for their child.

9. Your emotion,
my need—
the distance between us.

10. Night's fireflies,
intermissions in the dark.

11. Gazing at the remoteness of stars
I mistake them for streetlights.

12. In the body of shadow
the thirst of a kiss
breaks darkness,
breaks silence.

13. The full moon walks
only on the paths
of artists.

14. Though the poet grows old
the poet's moon
remains forever young.

15. I gave it back, hoping...
surely you would want to return!
Seeing you never came back, I know—
I was right to let it go.

16. Temple—
where the mind finds stillness.

17. In this room...
even at high noon, moonlight,
when you are beside me.

18. Even in clouds
the hidden sun,
if you know how to see.

19. A small house for two
nestled against the mountain.
Inside and out,
the waterfall's endless flowing.

20. Looking at the moon,
every time,
I try to forget you.