Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cicadas, friends, Haiku, japan, journeys, loss, meetings, moon, night, Poetry, return, sake, sorrow, spirits of the dead, travel, yakitori on May 23, 2013| 3 Comments »
1
moon leans down.
spirit of the departed
pale, smiling.
in the yakitori bar
every face
a character from Hiroshige.
we bend to each other
laughing
at the unfailing sorrow
of our human condition.
sake tasting
of tears.
warm night
cicadas tisk and tut:
our homeward staggering.
—-
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cool, Haiku, moon, night, rain on May 17, 2013| 2 Comments »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged assuredness, certainty, change, commitment, emptiness, fullness, light, moon, moonlight, night, Poetry, waning moon on May 5, 2013| 3 Comments »
MOTHER MOON
She pours it all out,
Empty, ringing.
She knows
Fullness will come again,
And she will pour
Herself empty
Without regret.
Teach us,
Mother moon.
****
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cats, dawn, fish, Haiku, landscape, light, May, moon, passage of time, photography, river, sheep, spring, sun, sunrise, thought sequence, thoughts, time on May 2, 2013| 5 Comments »
2nd May: Flow of Time
1
Finger of light
Twitches the curtains
Warm cat purs
2
Floating free
It takes a deep breath
Rising sun
3
Without doing,
Everything changes.
Time’s river
4
One or two moments.
Sunrise.
Fast river Time.
5
Watching.
Where is the small leaf of hope
I floated on that river?
6
Stay busy
So as not to notice
The speed of time.
7
No need to watch.
Sheep grazing
Feel the sun rise.
8
Catching breath.
No time to waste
Already gone
9
Accumulating merit
Then letting it go
Doing this, doing that
10
Morning sun
Now too bright.
Turning my gaze:
Waning moon
11
Sun and moon
Floating along
River of time
12
Where are they now?
All those plans floating.
River of time.
13
Caught sight of
One last time:
Small blossom.
Bend of the river
14
Somehow the same:
This thought
This river
15
One moment
Vanishes.
Recorded forever,
Perhaps
16
Deciding
Whether to go up the lane
Or down the lane.
Cat sitting in the sun.
17
To see all the pattern,
Break the pot.
Now the pattern,
Where is the pot?
18
Tune of an ancient chant.
Searching the words
That fit
19
Recording
Ordinary moments
In case
They never happen
Again
20
Thoughts, silence.
The sound of sheep
Munching new grass.
21
Slowly moving uphill
Into sunlight
Sheep nonchalantly drifting by
22
Choosing one,
All the others scatter:
Philosophical thoughts.
23
Should they never come again.
Collecting moments.
Mind fuel.
24
Fishing for words
The hours flow by.
But look what I have caught!
25
Small bright things:
Minnow moments.
I will return them to the stream
In just a moment
26
Haiku:
Not just words
Ripple outwards.
***
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged attention, landscape, life, mind, moon, night, Poety, reflection, spring, time on March 17, 2013| 8 Comments »
COUNTING MOONS
The moon tonight gliding through the eye of the Bull.
On the horizon light is still holding,
And thrushes, too full of Spring to sleep,
Echo song across the valley.
Why should I record this?
One day among many.
Nothing remarkable
In this new season’s freshness
( except our own common forgetfulness
Lost in weighted, judged moments).
I could give you a year of moons,
Some seen, some clouded, some serene or dreadful,
Meticulously recorded, patinated silver,
Its light cold, warm, diffuse, reticulated.
Its shape swinging this way then that,
Its rising between house and tree, hill and hedge.
Its mirror face reflecting clearly every tide of passion and despair,
Its mirror face pulling eye and heart to hold all souls aloof,
Quietly cooling, pulse and breath shifting, shivering slightly,
As if a gong brushed by a breeze, sounding sounding low.
A pool, silent.
A way in and a way out.
A door, a window, swinging open, slamming shut.
Lightening, darkening, reasonably equinanimous.
Unconcerned, ineffable, a mouth trying out new sounds,
Consonant and vowel shaping words that all mean silence,
That all mean liquid, that all mean holding, pouring, filling, emptying.
Just now, I can think of nothing more full of satisfaction,
Nothing more worthwhile,
Absolute evidence of time well spent,
Dutifully attentive, a garland for creation’s gifts,
Harmless, meaningless, a simple offering,
A counting of breaths, proof of life.
—
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cold, divergent action, ephemera, fulcrum, mind, moon, passing, peace, Poetry, spring, time, uncertain meaning on March 13, 2013| 3 Comments »
MOON SCREECH
Moon screeches across the sky-
Chalk on board,
Ice dust on the wind.
Layered circumspection
Is no wiser than
Reckless certainty.
Inside me
Scream a thousand
Small possibilities
Extirpated, snuffed out.
Inside me
A thousand more arise
Radiant effulgence,
Birth smiles.
It will take
No time at all.
It will take no time
To wipe all this away.
Swept clear,
So fragile
This dream.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged awareness, consciousness, everything, landscape, life, moon, night, peace, Poetry, seasons, stillness, the universe on March 2, 2013| 2 Comments »
BALM
I shall cool my mind
Upon the low golden moon
I shall drain my habitual sorrow
Letting it flow earthwards
And rest.
Rounded quietness
The clear roof
Of a star-filled night.
Everything is as it is.
Everything is moving
Towards
A dancing of its own nature.
Sleep and dream and waking,
The blink of day and night-
Vibrations on the rim of
Creation’s bowl.
The rippled liquid,
Concentric pools,
An eye-blink.
Breath from the wing
Of a passing owl.
Polish the mirror,
Breath and sleep.
Frost at dawn
And the new lamb’s
Thin cry.
In the dead elm
Two magpies
Are building a nest,
Ivy clad, bejewelled.
As long as it can
Life will fill
All voids,
Dancing heedless
Over the precipice
Of time,
Disregarding limits,
Floating
As if it were
A garland, a light,
Set adrift
As a blessing
As an asking
Upon one great river
Sedate, curving slow,
Seawards.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged belonging, cold, crows, moon, nature, place, Poetry, Winter morning on December 31, 2012| 9 Comments »
MY PLACE
Skilled in nothing
Except a drift of words
Trawled from the bleak waves
Of day and night –
Remorseless time
Measuring failed silences.
A scouring dawn wind
Polishes the cold moon’s disc.
A clan of crows, purposeful,
Flies westwards.
If I knew it,
This
Would be my place,
Rooted and sustained,
Full of small wonders,
Upheld
By slow breath.
—–
Last post of 2012. May everyone have a great 2013!
—–
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cold, contraction, dawn, December, moon, nature, Poetry, season, Winter, withdrawal on December 12, 2012| 3 Comments »
Withering
Back to the bone.
Then, too,
The marrow
Drawing in.
Cease, surcease,
Silence.
Thread of life
Pulled tight,
Stretched taught.
Knotted, (dark knot),
To the past
Hoping to continue
Through this cold.
Even water, though,
Has turned
To rock.
Only one movement :
Slow,
Pendulum moon
Slides golden,
Hazy
Across
This winter dawn.
simonhlilly 