Bonsai of Thoughts (Translated)

Bonsai of Thoughts: One Hundred Twenty-Two


1. New moon—
smoke rising from ashes
of dead fire...

2. At the cowherd's call
the cattle herd
from horizon to earth!

3. Each drop of rain
is a full moon!

4. Seeing sunrise beyond the lake
the duckling
runs toward the current.

5. In the gentle drizzle of night-dew
waiting for a new child
the whole village stays awake.

6. The rose is blooming!
How peacefully we remain
at a distance...
as if nothing has happened!

7. When spring arrives
our clusters of sorrow
somehow fade away...

8. When flocks of sparrows
dart through evening's moon,
then begins...the bustle.

9. Night's glow!
A hut atop the mountain!
Where stars fall one by one!

10. Along the lake's surface
the wind's wrinkled countenance—
an aged map.

11. In a street child's fireworks
finally begins...the festival!

12. In autumn's breeze
through mother's old bones
winter's premonition.

13. On winter nights...
a single cigarette
stands guard.

14. Watching the sun rise
each dark head of the sunflowers
lifts high...one by one!

15. On each petal of the rose
raindrops
hold and spread the petals themselves...

16. In the tears of flame trees
the sky melts so completely...
like a transparent mirror!

17. In midnight's moonlight
layer upon layer of empty shore
bears clear marks of past sins!

18. From the wound of the waning moon
even the deer flee
the forest!

19. Though storms may trample
the traveler's shadow,
still the traveler walks unwavering...

20. In the broken glass of the window
even the full moon weeps
with half its body!
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