Bonsai of Thoughts: Eighty

1. Some love,
others prove.

2. In the end
the body runs
pleading the mind's case.

3. Countless lips
all around—
beyond the circle.

4. Step by step
wandering;
skin against skin
tingling.

5. The mountains
one by one
push away summer clouds.

6. In the lion's den
even the jackal
roams freely...
on stormy nights,
in scorching sunny days.

7. Don't beckon with gestures;
if you don't call at all
I come closer instead.

8. Dawn's waning moon;
a solitary unsated lotus
caught in union with water.

9. The girl
hides her tears
in the sound of anklets.

10. Even dressed up
in pants and shirt,
the monkey still jumps.

11. The rain's lashing
doesn't care
for the headless neck!

12. The stone in my chest
in moonlight...grows
not warm, but warmer.

13. The blind owl
recognizes night
by pushing day aside.

14. Don't keep the hammer
beside the box of nails;
keep it instead
at a distance that requires searching.

15. Hidden stones
beneath the water;
the boat moves on,
suddenly
night swells
and evening descends.

16. Come,
on spring's first day
let's go with the river.

17. Wild flowers:
hold back
the years.

18. I keep listening...
every now and then
I sharpen the knife.

19. Even beneath
still water's surface
fish play.

20. On page after page
of Rabindranath
clouds gather,
rain falls,
sunshine dims.