“Weichuan Farmers” [渭川田家] by Wang Wei [王维] [w/ Audio]

Low, warm light lands on the village.
Cattle and sheep trapsing farmward.
Farmer mulls a missing shepherd,
Leaning on his staff, still on guard.
Pheasants cluck, wheat heads are heavy,
Silkworms dormant, mulberry leaves few.
Farmers stand, hoes on their shoulders,
Telling old tales, as if they were new.
How I envy the idle time --
To chat about mankind's decline.

This is poem #16 of the 300 Tang Poems [唐诗三百首.] The original poem in Simplified Chinese is:

斜光照墟落, 穷巷牛羊归。 
野老念牧童, 倚杖候荆扉。
雉雊麦苗秀, 蚕眠桑叶稀。
田夫荷锄立, 相见语依依。
即此羡闲逸, 怅然吟式微。

Bed of Boulders [Haiku]

mid-summer:
a stream trickles through boulders
once dragged by floods.

“Autumn Moon” [秋月] by Cheng Hao [程颢] [w/ Audio]

A clear stream passes by the
mountain clad in green;
The clear sky and clear water
melt in autumn hue.
Far far away from the tumultuous
world unclean,
Long long will white clouds and
red leaves be friend to you.

Note: This is the joint translation of Xu Yuanchong and Xu Ming found in the edition of Golden Treasury of Quatrains and Octaves on which they collaborated (i.e. China Publishing Group: Beijing (2008) p. 64.)

Dancing Daisies [Haiku]

bright flowers 
dance in a breeze,
beside the castle wall.

Patter [Haiku]

sparse patter
on leaves outside the window:
half-hour after rain.

DAILY PHOTO: Wolji Pond Pavilions by Day & by Night

Cherubic Figurine [Haiku]

mountain forest trail:
cherubic figurine
cheers weary hikers.

“In Search of the Taoist, Chang” [寻南溪常道士] by Liu Changqing 刘长卿

I walk the narrow path,
Clogs divoting the moss.
White clouds over the shore;
Gate obscured by Spring grass.
Post-rain, I see the pines,
Follow stream to its source.
Flower-mind, then Zen Mind --
Arrived! Words have no force.

This is poem #136 of the 300 Tang Poems [唐诗三百首.] The original in Simplified Chinese goes:

一路经行处, 莓苔见屐痕。
白云依静渚, 春草闭闲门。
过雨看松色, 随山到水源。
溪花与禅意, 相对亦忘言。

Innercity Magpie [Haiku]

sidewalk amblers
pass within inches
of unruffled magpie.

The Flower That Reaches [Senryū]

Hibiscus
reaches for pollen; though
pollen is nomadic.