cold rain falling into my loneliness

half moon --
all the words
left unsaid

corner street light
a cat stops
in its shadow

shake even the grave
my wailing voice is
the autumn's wind

塚も動け我が泣く声は秋の風
tsuka mo ugoke wake naku koe wa aki no kaze
　　　　　松尾芭蕉 Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694)

jingle bells
cat boxing with
Christmas tree

winter solstice I shorten a poem

harvest moon --
on the tatami mats

the shape of a pine

明月や畳の上に松の蔭

meigetsu ya tatami no ue ni matsu no kage

　　　　　宝井其角 Takaria kikaku (1661-1707)

the silence between

tinkles of wind chimes

moonlit window

a nest box built
in the hospital room
swallows never appear

病室に巣箱作れど燕来ず  
byo shitsu ni subako tsukuredo tsubame kozu
　　　　　   石田波郷 Ishida Hakyo (1913-1969)

moon shifts--
the last leaf drops

without a sound