“Night Mooring” by Zhang Ji [w/ Audio]

The moon sets; crows caw below frosty skies.
Boats, moored to maples -- lamps glow like cat eyes.
Cold Mountain Temple, outside Gusu's bounds:
The midnight bell cuts off soft water sounds.

Cold Lilies [Haiku]

water lilies
on a cold, gray day:
half-open, unkempt.

Riderless [Senryū]

riderless horses
race across the pasture:
finish line unknown

Hawkweed [Haiku]

Hawkweed blooms
beside a creek that sparkles
with summer sunlight.

Trampled [Haiku]

beside the trail:
a trampled dandelion
springs back, slowly.

DAILY PHOTO: Rocky River

Early Spring [Haiku]

lake shimmer;
Spring sneaks in early --
trees still bare.

DAILY PHOTO: Green & Snowcapped Mountains

Foggy Forest [Haiku]

fog floats in;
rows of trees consumed
by whiteness.

“Aftermath” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

When the summer fields are mown,
When the birds are fledged and flown,
And the dry leaves strew the path;
With the falling of the snow,
With the cawing of the crow,
Once again the fields we mow
And gather in the aftermath.

Not the sweet, new grass with flowers
Is this harvesting of ours;
Not the upland clover bloom;
But the rowen mixed with weeds,
Tangled tufts from marsh and meads,
Where the poppy drops its seeds
In the silence and the gloom.