Pansy Patch [Haiku]

pansy patch:
rabbit noses out,
sniffing air.

Fearful Flowers? [Senryū]

stunted flowers:
in fear of mower
decapitation?

“Ox” by Ikkyū [w/ Audio]

Among other creatures this is what I was.
Abilities depend on the realm;
realm also depends on abilities.
At birth I forgot completely by which path
I came.
I don't know, these years, which school
of monk I am.

Translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi and David Schneider in Essential Zen. 1994. HarperSanFrancisco.

Perilous [Haiku]

spider scurries
across sands beside
lapping waters.

Be Water [Free Verse]

The floating feather
that eludes my grasp
isn't haughty or gleeful.

It just rolls, slips, glides,
and is gone.

Cobbles [Haiku]

on the cobbles
of an ancient city,
sparrows peck.

“I’ll be the tree…” by Sándor Petőfi [w/ Audio]

I'll be the tree, if you'll be its flower;
I'll be the flower, if you'll be the dew;
I'll be the dew, if you'll be the sunshine
That glistens as it unites we two.

If you, My Love, should become the Heavens,
I'd be reborn as a star on high.
Even if you turned into Hell, itself,
I'd be damned, and I'd gladly fry.

The Original Poem in Hungarian:

Fa leszek, ha fának vagy virága.
Ha harmat vagy: én virág leszek.
Harmat leszek, ha te napsugár vagy...
Csak, hogy lényink egyesüljenek.

Ha, leányka, te vagy a mennyország:
Akkor én csillagá változom.
Ha, leányka, te vagy a pokol: (hogy
Egyesüljünk) én elkárhozom.

“The Secret Sits” by Robert Frost [w/ Audio]

We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

Mountain Envy [Free Verse]

Ah, the mountain!
Old enough to know
When to stay quiet,
And disciplined enough
To stick to it.

“The Voice of the Ancient Bard” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

Youth of delight, come hither,
And see the opening morn,
Image of truth new born.
Doubt is fled, & clouds of reason,
Dark disputes & artful teazing.
Folly is an endless maze,
Tangled roots perplex her ways.
How many have fallen there!
They stumble all night over bones
of the dead,
And feel they know not what
but care,
And wish to lead others,
when they should be led.