Short Poems

Old garden lake!
The frog thy depth doth seek,
And sleeping echoes wake.

Into an old pond
A frog took a sudden plunge,
Then is heard a splash.

The old pond! A frog plunged —
The sound of the water!

Coming along the mountain road I find
Something endearing about violets.

Uttering only
" Oh! Oh! Oh! " I roam over
Yoshino's hills ablow.

At lovely Yoshino
The mountain cherries here and there
Have begun to show.

For all men
'Tis the seed of siesta —
The autumn moon.

I thought I saw the fallen leaves
Returning to their branches;
Alas, butterflies were they.

The hat you loved, the damask trimmed reed-hat
Has fallen, fallen!
Into Kamo River, into the middle of the river.
And while I searched and while I sought
Day dawned, day dawned.
Oh, the rustling, rustling of that autumn night by the pools!

How fast the Mogami River
Washes away the hot summer!