Bonsai of Thought: One Hundred Four

1. The old city...silent.
The scent of jasmine...drifting on the breeze.
The evening bells...still keep it alive.

2. The man who went about
selling hand fans,
died this evening
in the stifling heat.

3. Between two temples,
a conversation
through the resonance of bells.
What a sweet evening!

4. Deep in the forest
the woodcutter's blunt axe
does not pierce the tree's body...
only causes pain.

5. In the morning mist,
unseen by the tree's gaze,
one dry leaf at a time
breaks with a rustle.

6. In the rain at sunset
washes away...
all the colors of the world's sins.

7. A friend is one
who, when you speak,
will let all your inner
artistry and ugliness spill out.

8. The butterflies have fallen asleep.
Dear wind,
very slowly with gentle hands
caress them.

9. What fortune for that beggar!
Today, precisely because he's destitute,
from the rich man's lips
he's received a ticket to heaven!

10. The flower that blooms by the waterfall,
drinking and drinking the waterfall's water,
after it falls away, once again
the waterfall's water drinks it.

11. I am leaving...
when you have time someday,
thinking of the wrongs
done to me...weep.

12. Not in voice, not in eyes,
darkness clings
only...to lanes and alleys, street after street.

13. Sometimes, the flowers,
searching for fragrance,
gaze toward the path
of the honeybees...

14. Don't come to frighten me.
The path you're afraid to walk on,
that path too...
remains restless in fear of me.

15. When evening falls,
searching for birds
street after street...the scarecrow's
shadow and breath both grow long.

16. I had taken roses
for that girl,
whose nose you had stuffed with cotton
before you left.

17. Even at night a few birds call;
it takes ears to listen.
Even in sin's body some virtue remains;
it takes eyes to see.

18. Come, let us live in simple faith.
Come, let us not change
our voices, eyes, touch...
between the two of us.

19. In the light of stars...
how brilliant the night!
And you want to light a lamp!
How foolish people can be!

20. Only when storms come do I understand
you seek me to hold close?!
What storms in this heart...won't be calmed by one
who'd rather face the storm!