pic09497 Hokusai

JAPANESE MOTIFS

1
To gaze into a rock garden is to contemplate a model of existence, or perhaps the universe itself.
Nearby stands a quiet house made of paper walls,
A place where contemplation is its own reward.
The fruits of the tea ceremony are
A silent look within, a poem.
You will hear a haiku about water –
As if time were to stop.

2
The samurais back armor,
With its spiky and intricate pattern,
And two swords, and such a life,
Where there is no pain, no groan imaginable.
Having treated everyone, having prepared everything,
He will open his own abdomen.
There, on the floor, are stains of blood,
And the samurai will die in silence.

3
The cherry blossoms bloom with poetry.
Yellow wine slumbers in a glass.

4
A Tokyo avalanche will crash down upon you
With all its colorful advertisements.
You are choked in the traffic jams,
Yet, you move forward directly.

A whistling and humming movement.
Hectares rise upwards of glass.
The past versus change –
How appealing are these changes to us?

There is something – there is charm
In this bustling and vibrant metropolis.
Suddenly – a parting with yourself,
Lost... but buzzing on your belt
Is the mobile phone...

5
Sake, heated as it should be,
Fried eel lies next to rice.

Will you hold chopsticks in your hand,
And grasp the all-Japanese flavor?

Oh, there is another harmony of food here,
Strange rows of flavors.
But dont try fugu fish, my friend,
Having tasted it – death suddenly struck at the table.

6
The branches are bent, they resemble
Hieroglyphs.
Past and present days
Merge into something
Unified by memory in text. Hieroglyphs
Are miraculously curved with ink.
And here is one – a little man with a fork gesture.

7
A pond with golden fish,
With snails on the banks,
And the snails seem to smile,
Dissolved later in verses.