Scurry [Haiku]

shore birds scurry,
evading rolling surf,
like playful kids.

Mental Scaling [Haiku]

trickling water 
becomes a vast cascade;
grass tufts blur to trees.

DAILY PHOTO: Brown Waters of Mahaweli Ganga

DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Sundarbans

“On Dongting Lake: To Premier Zhang” [临洞庭上张丞相] by Meng Haoran [孟浩然] [w/ Audio]

The lake is glassy in August.
The air and sky are oh-so clear.
Vapor steams off of Yunmeng ponds,
Ripples lap at Yueyang's piers.
There're no boats to cross the water.
Shame! I couldn't emulate sages.
I sit and watch a fisherman
And envy his catch and his wages.

This is poem #124 in 300 Tang Poems [唐诗三百首.] Original Poem in Simplified Chinese:

八月湖水平, 涵虚混太清。
气蒸云梦泽, 波撼岳阳城。
欲济无舟楫, 端居耻圣明。
坐观垂钓者, 空有羡鱼情。

Mutual Drift [Free Verse]

Lying back on the water,
Peering into a cloud,

I shift like driftwood --
rocking and rising,
rolling and dipping.

As I stare at the cloud,
It seems to stare back.

It drifts - suspiciously -
Or maybe I'm drifting
And it is still --

In truth, we're both drifting,
And neither of us has
The mental energy to be
Suspicious.

Rain Strike [Haiku]

rain strike seen
in ripples on the pond
before felt on skin.

Misty Falls [Haiku]

mid-Summer:
I pause under misty falls,
'til I feel the Spring.

Reflection [Haiku]

heron & reflection drift apart
until one of them vanishes.

DAILY PHOTO: Views from Vang Vieng’s Bamboo Bridges